By JIM MERRITT
Guest Columnist
For decades, higher education costs have risen substantially. Across the board, families struggle to pay for college. Even before the economic stress that COVID and labor shortages brought to our state, Hoosier students and families were far from guaranteed a return on their investment, not to mention an actual opportunity to go to college.
Whether a student chooses to attend a trade school or one of Indiana’s 61 bachelor’s degree-granting institutions, if they work hard and play by the rules, they should be able to graduate with more opportunities than when they started. Unfortunately, many students today are graduating with mountains of debt, earning barely enough to pay down their student loans.
A sizeable part of this problem can be attributed to the fact that higher ed institutions have been able to operate largely in the dark. The lack of transparency has allowed some predatory schools to take advantage of prospective students by failing to provide information about their student outcomes. Additionally, the limited information available from the U.S. Department of Education is cause for concern.
Even for specialized degrees like physical therapy (PT), the costs students pay for their education versus what they earn in their profession is often not enough to pay their loans. When prospective students choose to enroll in a highly specialized program like PT, the lack of trustworthy data surrounding graduation rates, earnings, and debt repayment undercut their ability to make informed decisions about which academic program makes the most financial sense.
Frankly, federal reforms are long overdue. More oversight is needed if we want to make higher ed more transparent and accountable for student outcomes. Modernizing our education policies to make information public – such as completion rates, what students earn after graduation, and other metrics of higher ed success – will, in turn, make these institutions more accountable. More transparency benefits good schools, helps underperforming schools identify areas for improvement, and gives families more power as consumers.
I spent my career in the Indiana Senate as an advocate for reasonableness when it comes to any expansion of government. Federal legislation like the bipartisan College Transparency Act creates little red tape while including common sense reforms to make programs receiving taxpayer dollars more accountable. The CTA’s proposed public annual reporting requirements are good for academic competition, students, and families alike.
And, after years of work, the CTA finally has a chance to become law as it moves through Congress right now as part of a larger bill package. I hope levelheaded leaders in Washington like Senator Young and Senator Braun seize this unique opportunity to work across the aisle to strengthen our postsecondary schools and pass the College Transparency Act.
Jim Merritt formerly served as a State Senator representing areas in Indianapolis and Carmel from 1991 until his retirement in 2020.