Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chair, under the Higher Education Act, proprietary colleges and universities and career training programs are required to offer programs that lead to gainful employment in a legally recognized occupation in order to participate in the federal student aid programs. In July 2010, the Department of Education published a proposed rule to enforce this statutory requirement. While I share the Department's desire to ensure that federal financial aid dollars are spent wisely and that students are not taken advantage of, my concern is that the proposed rule does not accurately address this purpose and the consequences have not been fully considered.

Rather than using actual measures of educational quality such as job placement and graduation rates, the Department is promulgating a regulation that defines ``gainful employment'' through a complex matrix that examines the student loan debt-to-income ratio of graduates to the student loan repayment rate of graduates in the programs. The proposed rule would also require the US Department of Education to approve every new program created at a proprietary institution prior to the start of the program. This proposed rule needs to be further developed and possible unintended consequences considered.

In the midst of our economic crisis and high national unemployment rate, there remains a group of employers who struggle to find workers with skill sets required for today's changing job market. These employers have, in some cases, partnered with community and career colleges to build a 21st century workforce. Today, more than 6 million non-traditional students--including single parents, displaced workers, and low income individuals--are enrolled in community colleges and another 2.8 million in career colleges to develop the skills necessary to advance in the 21st century workplace.

Yes, there are ``bad apples'' among career preparation programs, who are taking advantage of vulnerable populations. In fact, before coming to Congress, I was at the forefront of an effort to close a beauty school in New Jersey which had done a disservice to students in the area. For this reason, again, I share the concern of many regarding the abuse of Title IV funds as well as any institutional action which would cause a student academic failure or financial harm. However, I also know that many good career colleges and community college programs exist that remain strong partners in the effort to meet the President's goal of leading the world in the percentage of college graduates by 2020.

My concern is that the Department's rule, while addressing poor quality programs, will have a negative impact on high quality programs as well. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment to provide for the reevaluation of the proposed metric system and full consideration of its impact.

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