During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL) talked about the commodification of higher education.
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00:00The gentleman from Wyoming's time is yielded back. I now recognize the gentleman from Illinois for five minutes.
00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This hearing highlights a real problem, the crisis of affordability in higher education.
00:17But instead of focusing on systemic issues and solutions, Republicans have chosen a narrow and misleading target,
00:26the Ivy League, which enrolls less than one percent, half of one percent of all undergraduate students.
00:35It's been stated before. Rising costs are not unique to the Ivy League.
00:41Over the last two decades, tuition and fees at private and public universities have increased by over 100 percent.
00:49So this problem isn't limited to antitrust violations by the Ivy League.
00:55It's a problem that affects working families, regardless of which school students attend.
01:04And this problem is rooted in the commodification of education.
01:09Many schools have become real estate trusts and hedge funds that treat education as an afterthought.
01:17They gain the ranking system by jacking up tuition, offering discounts in the form of financial aid,
01:25knowing that they can exploit the student loan program and load their students with debt.
01:34This model has been a disaster for students and for our economy.
01:39Higher education is becoming more essential and more unaffordable.
01:43Over 40 million people hold nearly $2 trillion in debt.
01:50And black and Latino students, immigrant students, and first-generation students in particular are being priced out of opportunity.
02:00So in addition to antitrust enforcement, Congress must act.
02:05And we should consider policy options like tuition-free public college caps on tuition increases,
02:15increased need-based aid, reforms to the student loan system, and support for trade and vocational schools.
02:24Not everyone needs to go to college.
02:26But if Republicans were serious about affordability, we'd see policy solutions.
02:31We don't see that.
02:32Instead, we see culture wars.
02:35Let's talk about what they actually do.
02:39Ms. Morgan, thank you for being here.
02:42Let me ask you a simple yes or no question.
02:44Does cutting the Department of Education lower tuition costs?
02:49It does not.
02:51Does cutting research funding for universities lower tuition costs?
02:55It does not.
02:55Does funding financial aid, does cutting financial aid programs and student debt relief lower tuition costs?
03:03It definitely does not.
03:04Does suppressing free speech and enforcing a Trump-approved ideology lower tuition costs?
03:10It does not.
03:13And as usual, Republicans are pretending to be firefighters when they're actually arsonists.
03:21We need to address the cost of higher education, but nothing in their cruel reconciliation bill does that.
03:30So this hearing is just a hypocritical distraction.
03:37Republicans fight culture wars.
03:39They manufacture outrage and funnel taxpayer dollars to billionaires and to ICE while defunding higher education.
03:50Programs that help working-class students, those that I represent in Congress, and other vital resources for our communities.
04:01Working families and our communities deserve better.
04:06Thank you, and I yield back.
04:08Gentleman yields back.
04:09Gentleman from...