Latest Higher Ed Proposals Prove, Again, It Can Always Get Worse With Donald Trump

MADISON, Wis. — The administration of Donald Trump today made public the changes they will seek in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the primary federal law affecting student financial aid and higher education.

Among the more appalling initiatives from an administration that has already sought to give aid and comfort with law and policy changes to predatory for-profit colleges, abusive student loan debt collectors and campus rapists are:

• Ending the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program;
• Eliminating subsidized student loans;
• Eliminating campus based grant aid for low income students;
• Repealing laws that protect students and taxpayers from predatory institutions and practices;
• Repealing the bipartisan College Transparency Act that provides students and their families with data about colleges and universities;
• Suggesting changes to campus free speech protections.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Program Director Analiese Eicher:

“It seems things can always get worse when it comes to Donald Trump. The changes his administration is seeking in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act are another reminder of that.

“The provisions Trump is calling for will explode student loan debt that is already at crisis levels, break promises made to graduates who now work serving our communities in occupations like teaching, nursing and public safety and stifle campus free speech.

“This comes on top of other actions from his administration to give aid and comfort with law and policy changes to predatory for-profit colleges, abusive student loan debt collectors and campus rapists.

“Higher education has been a path to prosperity and better lives for generations of Americans. But what Trump has proposed would destroy the promise of education as the great equalizer.

“These wrongheaded policies have no business as part of the Higher Education Act reauthorization and need to be rejected by Congress.”

One Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.