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September 11th, 2024 8:33 pm
Why Not Put Students and Taxpayers First?
Posted by Print

After the United States Supreme Court ruling this past June finally and rightfully overturning “Chevron Deference,” one might hope that federal agencies and the bureaucrats who populate them in Washington, D.C. would recognize and respect the new limitations on their previous excesses.

The ruling struck a major blow against administrative state overreach.  And while the Court’s decision specifically dealt with agencies’ rulemaking process and the ability to interpret statutes however they like, hopefully it and similar previous rulings will start imposing desperately needed guardrails to prevent rouge agency action.

The Unites States Department of Education (DOE) offers a textbook example of that sort of rogue behavior.   Many cogently contend that the DOE shouldn’t even exist, and that federal education dollars should instead go directly to the states, letting them handle education policy at the more effective local level.

Of course, if we accomplished that, bureaucrats in the DOE ranks wouldn’t be able to use their lofty titles to attack universities of their choosing at whim.

More specifically, we at CFIF told you a few months ago about an attempted money grab by DOE at the University of Arizona.  in that instance, the DOE moved to shift tens of millions of dollars in student debt from thousands of students instead onto the U of A following its acquisition of a for-profit online university.  That offers just the latest example of the ongoing efforts by federal regulators to target more market-driven education models.

To date, DOE has failed to provide any clarity or guidance in their scheme to U of A, despite that fact that it could cost Arizona taxpayers millions at a time when Vice President Kamala Harris desperately wants to avoid stirring up opposition among voters in this critical swing state.

Unfortunately, the DOE’s malfeasance shouldn’t be surprising.  It stems from DOE’s stubborn and unfounded aversion toward any market-oriented education outside of bureaucratic control.  How dare U of A experiment with an innovative form of education delivery, they believe.    That’s shameful of them, and ultimately damages student populations that the DOE exists to help.

In that vein, our friends at the Heritage Foundation released a report earlier this year detailing DOE’s two-decade war with for-profit higher education, even in cases where those schools were partners with nonprofit institutions.  “Rather than singling out the for-profit sector, which is meeting the needs of non-traditional students in particular, the department should hold all sectors to the same standards instead of expressing the anti-market biases,” the Heritage report found.

Sadly, U of A appears to be just the latest victim of DOE’s perverse witch hunt.  That triggers the looming question: Who’s next?  If the DOE can do this to the largest university in such a politically and economically important state like Arizona, what other state universities in less-pivotal swing states might they target next to try to recoup their student loan “forgiveness?”

Hopefully, pressure from the courts, elected officials and the public results in some restoration of sanity at the end of the day, and that DOE decides to put the interests of Arizona students and taxpayers first.

 

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