Op-Ed: Higher ed reforms benefit our state’s economy

Op-Ed: Higher ed reforms benefit our state’s economy

By State Senator Dave W. Craven, Jr.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many issues to the forefront, including the challenges the broader education system faces. School age kids from elementary through college navigated virtual learning, among other things. It demonstrated that education policy touches most every household in the United States and affects every sector of our state’s economy. As taxpayers, all North Carolinians have a vested interest in student outcomes.

A 2015 impact analysis study on higher education and our state’s economy found that postsecondary institutions created $63.5 billion in added state income, equivalent to 1,021,158 jobs. It’s indisputable, higher ed stimulates our economy, encourages innovation, and benefits communities across the Tar Heel state.

Not only is higher education one of the largest drivers of economic growth, but technical colleges and traditional two and four-year universities are the primary producer of our state’s next generation of business leaders, engineers, teachers, skilled laborers etc. As the nationwide labor shortage and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic persist, strengthening our postsecondary education system policies have never been so important to our state’s economic wellbeing. But the reality is, state lawmakers cannot modernize higher education alone.

Young people and adults alike turn to postsecondary education to expand career opportunities, with the hope of providing financial stability. That’s why I chose to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I knew that a postsecondary degree would open doors for me that I would not have otherwise had access to. No matter your background, if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead. And for so many Americans, postsecondary education serves as a starting point to do just that. However, years of no guardrails or oversight has allowed for some bad actors to profit off families’ hard-earned money, student loans, and federal taxpayer dollars with no accountability for student outcomes.

As the youngest serving member in North Carolina’s State Senate, I sympathize with many of my constituents and recent graduates’ concerns about the rising costs of higher education. A lot has changed since most lawmakers attended a postsecondary program. Currently, about 70% of students nationwide take out loans to attend college. And the fact of the matter is, some institutions are failing to provide students with a valuable degree, let alone setting them up to pay off student debt.

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that more than half of North Carolina’s institutions (nearly 52%) leave a majority of former students earning less money than if they had entered the workforce straight from high school. The fact that none of the nearly $2.1 billion in federal grants and loans that postsecondary schools received in our state last year were contingent on outcome-based results can explain in part some of the trends surrounding student debt repayment, the increased presence of predatory colleges, and low completion rates.

If we want to maintain our state’s status as a leader in higher education, we need common sense reforms to make higher ed more accountable and more transparent. One solution already proposed in Washington is the College Transparency Act. This legislation creates nominal red tape and requires public annual reporting on student outcomes, graduation rates, and debt repayment. While I remain staunchly opposed to short-sighted, blanket loan forgiveness policies, I do recognize that legislative action is needed to address these growing concerns and to improve student outcomes.

Higher education in North Carolina is one of our state’s greatest assets. It’s time to increase transparency and accountability among postsecondary institutions and ensure our students are set up for success. I hope leaders in Washington, like Sen. Burr and Sen. Tillis, prioritize these student focused reforms.

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