Arnold Ventures Statement on Introduction of the College Affordability Act

Arnold Ventures today released the following statement responding to the introduction of the College Affordability Act:

Students and taxpayers deserve to get a strong return on investment in our higher education system. Arnold Ventures applauds Chairman Bobby Scott (D‑VA) for including several critical reforms on data and accountability that will increase that return on investment in his new bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. 

This bill closes the egregious loopholes that have enabled institutions to prey on veterans and repeatedly fail students. It raises the bar for all institutions to show they are actually setting up students for success in life. And critically, it improves transparency, for the first time giving the public and prospective students real-world information on which institutions and programs are serving students well. These important steps will improve education for students and outcomes for society, and we appreciate Chairman Scott’s strong leadership on this front.

Going forward, we encourage the Chairman and his colleagues to continue strengthening the quality assurance provisions in the bill, including considering a greater emphasis on completion, more focus on outcomes of specific programs and ensuring any short-term training program is rigorously evaluated prior to accessing valuable Pell Grant dollars. We also believe the bill should include dedicated investments in researching, evaluating, and scaling programs that are proven to improve student outcomes. Investing in what works is an area of bipartisan agreement and should be a no-brainer.

We look forward to supporting the Chairman, Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R‑NC), and their counterparts in the Senate to move forward a bold vision for higher education that dramatically increases the return on investment for students and taxpayers.