Date: 2005-06-16
Speaker: KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (republican)
Chamber: S

the senior Senator from Texas. and our majority leader. Senator BILL FRST. had a little session in the leaders office last year. They invited the former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He was concluding his residency at the Library of Congress. I remember after he had said what he had to say. we asked our questions. Senator HUTCHISON asked of President Cardoso: Mr. President. what is the one thing you are going to remember about the United States from your stay here at the Library of Congress that you will take with you back to your country of Brazil? Without a moments hesitation. he said: The American university. the greatness and the autonomy of the American university. I will tell you another story. A few years ago. I was asked to be the president of the University of Tennessee. It was 1988. I was glad to do it. I had been chairman of the board of the university for 8 years as Governor. and I appointed a lot of the trustees. but I was not a skilled university president. So I sought out .David Gardner. thepresident of the University of California. which I regard. with all respect to North Carolina. at least at that time. to be the outstanding public university in America and perhaps one of the best in the world. I said to David Gardner: Why is the University of California so good? Without a moments hesitation. he said: First. autonomy When California created the universitythey created four branches of government. really: legislative. executive. judicial. and then the University of California. He said: Fundamentally. they give us the money. and then our board and we decide how to spend it. Our autonomy has permitted us to do the second thing. set very high standards. And then he said the third thing was the large amount of Federal dollars that follows students to the educational institution of their choice. So autonomy. excellence. and choiceFederal dollars following students to the schools of their choice. That is how David Gardner explained theCalifornia model for excellence in higher education. That model has worked for our country since the GI bill for veterans was enacted in 1944. I have wondered many times how we were fortunate enough to have decided to do it in the way they did it. This was for the veterans. It was the end of World War II. There were college presidents who were very upset about the idea of giving the veterans money and just telling them to go wherever they wanted to go to college. The president of the University of Chicago said it would make the University of Chicago a hobos jungle. But we know what it did. We had veterans coming back and taking their GI bill. Many of them took it to Catholic high schools and other high schools because they had not finished high school. But they went wherever they wanted. to any accredited institution. They went to Yeshiva. They went to Vanderbilt. They went to the historically Black colleges and universities across AmericaHarvard. It did not matter. If it was accredited. they chose the institution. The same formula was applied when the Pell grants were created by this Congress in honor of Senator Pell. who was a former Member of this body. as is true with Senator Stafford and the Stafford loans. Instead of giving those grants and loans to the University of North Carolina and the University of Tennessee. they went to the student. The student then said: Well. I will decide where I want to go. I may want to go to Rhodes College. or I may want to go to Lenore Rhyne or I may want to go to the University of Florida or Yeshiva or Howard. They go where they want to go. Because of that. we now have 6.000 autonomous institutions around the country. Many of them are nonprofit. Many of them are for profit. Eighty percent of our students go to public institutions. but 20 percent go to private institutions. Because it is a marketplace of 6.000 institutions. and some are. of course. better than others. because it is a marketplace. we have been able to adapt to a changing world that now has different subjects. different standards. a more global environment. and students who are. by and large. much older and have different needs than they did before.. If we had not had that kind of marketplace of colleges and universities. we would be stuck in the mud. and we would not have former President Cardoso of Brazil talking so well about our colleges and universities. We do not just have some of the best colleges and universities in the world. we have almost all of them. And the rest of the world knows that. We do not have 572.000 foreign students studying in our country this year because we made them come. or even because we give them scholarships. They pay to come for the most part. They are the brightest students in most of these countries. And 60 percent of our postdoctoral students are from overseas. Half our students in computer and engineering graduate programs are from overseas. They are here for that reason. So we attract these students. The Federal Government has continued to be generous. So there are two things I am introducing today with this bill. Number one. this legislation would simplify the financial aid process and expand access for student . We do it in these ways: (a) streamline the forms for Federal grants and loans.- making access to student financial aid easier. (b) provide students who want to expedite their education and study yearround the Federal support to do so. (c) provide students with financial information about colleges and universities in a clear and concise manner that does not require additional reporting from institutions. The second purpose of the bill is to protect that autonomy. that one word. that independence. that autonomy of these 6.000 institutions. That is. in my view. a critical element of why we have the best colleges and universities in the world. What I mean by that is we did not order them -to be good from. Washington. That is not how they got to be great. They were autonomous and independent. We allowed them to be. and then we gave them students. followed by money. who created a competitive marketplace. And they became the best in the world. So this legislation eliminates. streamlines. and evaluates regulations currently imposed on institutions of higher education with the goal of lessening the burden on schools. That way. universities can focus more on teaching and researching and less on maintaining reporting requirements for the Federal Government. I The bill. No. 1. appoints an expert panel to review Department of Education regulations and to recommend how those regulations might be streamlined or eliminated. Two. it accelerates the "negotiated rulemaking process" whereby universities negotiate new rules with the Department so that an end result can be reached without costly delays. And three. it develops a compliance calendar so that universities know what requirements they have to meet and when they to have meet them. What I mean by that is. it will be up to us in the Federal Government to send to the University of North Carolina or Maryville College in Tennessee a list of the rules they have to comply with so they dont have to hire a whole team of people to try to wade through and read everything. This is just one title of the Higher Education Act. It has several titles. So a compliance calendar would help deregulate. These changes build on the successful model for American higher education. By making the financial aid process more user friendly and more accessible. more students will have Federal funds following them to the college or university of their choice. And by relieving some of the Federal regulatory burden. we are restoring university autonomy so they can spend more time teaching and researching and less time filling out paperwork. I have two major purposes. The first is to simplify and expand access to financial aid. to make it easier for the 60 percent of our college students who fill out a form to get a Federal grant or loan. and second. to reduce the burdensome paperwork on the colleges and universities. In terms of simplifying access. we need to remember that the faces and needs of our college students have changed. More typically these days. when I go to a graduationthis has been true for a number of yearsthe cry you hear from the audience is: Way to go. mom. It is the mom who is getting her degree. or the dad. going back to school. college. community college. trade school. university to get the skills they need to get a better job or another job in a rapidly changing world. In1970. we had 7.4 million students. 28 percent of whom were enrolled part time and 38 percent at twoyear colleges. Only 28 percent were 25 or older. By -1999. enrollment had grown to 12.7 million. a 7.2percent increase with 39 percent enrolled part time and 44 percent in twoyear colleges. Nearly half our students in 1999 were in twoyear colleges. Our financial aid system needs to catch up. The first thing we can do is to simplify what we call the Free Application Federal Student Aid. As one might expect. it is known around here as FAFSA. Imagine that. You go out and try to talk to a family of someone who might be going to college for the first time and that family says let me talk to you about.FAFSA. I think we ought to change the name. I think we ought to make it easy for people to understand what we are talking about. I recently met a chief financial officer of a company who said she found the form challenging when helping her high school daughter fill out a form for financial aid. I can only imagine the challenge to a high school student. or a working mother. when trying to answer over 100 confusing questions. the vast majority of which are only applicable for the State of California. So a second thing we can do is make sure students can use the Federal aid for education they need year round. Flexibility for yearround Pell grants is a part of this legislation so students can have the flexibility they need to go and continue their education in the summer. There is a disincentive for that. Not only is that inconvenient for students and working students. it tends to encourage institutions to waste the resources in the summertime. which they should be putting to better use. The third thing we can do is make sure. there is more information. That is why I suggest the "best buy" list--a list of the 100 schools with the lowest tuition and required fees. with the greatest availability of scholarships and grants. In other words. this would help parents and students decide where they could get the biggest bang for their buck. Many of the ideas that are in our legislation came from the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. Senator GREGG. when he was chairman. and I invited them to work on this. They did a terrific job and they came up with 10 recommendations. 8 of which are in this bill. and I believe they have no cost to the budget. The other area and my final comments have to do with the other side of the ledger. While we are making it easier for students to have access to financial aid. we should work to relieve the regulatory burden on colleges and universities represented by these boxes of 7.000 regulations that contain all the forms any college or university in Florida or Tennessee or North Carolina would receive this year to fill out. Thanks tothe last two rounds of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. there are today more than 7.000 regulations associated with the title IV student aid program. With the exception of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. every Federal agency is involved in regulating some aspect of higher education. That is incredible and it is absolutely ridiculous. In 1997. Gerhard Casper. the president of Stanford University. said Stanford spends 7 cents out of every tuition dollar on compliance with Government regulations. This has only gotten worse in the last 9 years. We need to ease the burden. For example. under the Higher Education Act. universities are required to report how many fulltime employees have dental insurance. whether the university is a member of a national athletic association. and the number of meals that are in a "board" charge. Colleges are required to hand every student a paper inState voter registration form and cailnot use modern technology such as Web registrations. which would actually reach more students. We are giving university staff busy work to do when they ought to be helping students. " Here is another example. When a major chemical company such as DuPont produces 55gallon containers of a potentially hazardous waste. we require Dupont to report on how all that waste is disposed and ensure that it is done in a certain manner. This is a good regulation and idea. Right now. we are applying the same regulation and paperwork to a chemistry class at a college that might produce half a test tube of the same substance. Mr. President. I donT know about the presiding officer. the Senator from Florida. and I now see the Senator from Virginia. I suspect that when we all go back to our States and speak to our Lincoln Day dinners. or when the Democrats go to the Jefferson Day dinners. we all say the thing we need to do once we pass these laws is to have more oversight and ease the burden of regulation. When I say that. I get a- big round of applause. because at home people dont think we get any smarter when we fly to Washington. DC. each week. They think it would be absurd to know there are 7.000 regulations governing college grants and loans. and that Stanfotd University spends 7 cents out ofand this is a private universityevery tuition dollar paying for the cost of Government regulations. One reason we have an increased interest in regulating is because there are a great many Members of Congress. as well as people in the country. who worry about rising tuition costs. I worry about those. too. When I was Governor of Tennessee. we used to have a deal with the students. The State will pay 70 percent of the cost. and you pay 30 percent. and if we raise your tuition. we will raise the State contribution. That has changed. I am afraid. and I think it is important for us to know that. Tuition is not going up because the Federal Government is failing to do its job. Over the last 4 years. Pell grants. workstudy. scholarships all gone up about 30 percent. At the same time. over the last 4 years. State spending for higher education is up 3.6 percent. I will say that again. This is according to various educational institutions. including the Center for Study of Education Policy. Illinois State University. In fiscal year 2001. there was a 3.4 percent increase in State funding for higher education. In 2002. there was a 1.2percent decrease. in the next year. a 2.4percent decrease. This is State funding for higher education. Last year. there was a 3.8percent increase3.6 over the 4 years. So what our colleges and universities are feeling. and what our students are feeling. is decreased State support for higher education. One reason they are feeling that is. because we have not given States the tools to control the growth in Medicaid spending. So in Tennessee. Florida. Virginia. and North Carolina. our colleges and universities are hurting because the Governors and legislatures are spending the dollars that ought to be going for excellence in universities. They are spending it on huge increases in Medicaid costs. That is part of our responsibility. too. So I come to the floor today to introduce the Higher Education Simplification and Deregulation Act of 2005. I invite my colleagues to join me in it. We will be marking up a Higher Education Authorization Act next month. It affects 60 percent of the college students in the United States. I am sure we are going to continue to fund those grants and loans. as we have from here. but we also need to do two other things. One of them is in here. and that is not to get busy regulating more colleges and universities. We should be deregulating. The other thing we should do. which is not a part of this bill. is to keep our commitment to the Governors that. by about the fall of this year. we should give them the legislative tools they needand I believe also relief from Federal court consent decrees. which are outdatedso they can manage the growth of Medicaid spending. so that in turn we can continue to support higher education. Our energy bill and our higher education bill are at the forefront of our policies to keep our jobs and our competitiveness. Heres one more example: If you grab a pint bottle of rubbing alcohol from your bathroom and take it to a university laboratory. it will immediately fall under the regulation and scrutiny of six different regulatory agencies: (1) the air quality management district. (2) the sewer district.