First appearance on FOX – With the new school year approaching and education costs expected to be a key issue in the presidential election, Republican Rep. David Joyce of Ohio is promoting a bill that targets bloated college endowments as an alternative to cutting education costs.
The bill that Joyce will introduce this week with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York would more than fivefold tax on private college endowment profits, from 1.4 percent to 10 percent, and lower the tax threshold on $500,000 per student endowments to $250,000. Joyce says schools are relying on federal loan guarantees as they continue to raise education costs.
“I think the biggest beneficiaries of our student loan system are the universities, and they’ve raised tuition in many cases at rates above the rate of inflation, so they’ve benefited the most,” Joyce said in an interview with Fox News. “I think we need to get universities more actively involved.”
Minnesota mayor thanks President Biden for student loan forgiveness
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) outside a House Republican Steering Committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, at the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Universities that raise tuition fees at or above the rate of inflation would be hit even harder: If a private university raises net tuition fees faster than the rate of inflation over a three-year period, it would have to pay a 20% tax on its endowment gains the following year.
“This bill will finally hold universities accountable for their role in fueling the student loan crisis and encourage them to rein in skyrocketing tuition increases,” Malliotakis said in a statement.
The average cost of tuition, fees, room and board for the 2022-23 school year will be $30,884 per year, up from $12,992 in the 2000-01 school year, according to the Department of Education.
The bill comes as the Biden administration, Vice President Harris and their allies push for student loan forgiveness.
“We envision a future where teachers don’t have to struggle with student loan debt,” Harris said at an event held by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Kevin O’Leary slams Biden’s student loan deal as ‘unfair’ and ‘un-American’: ‘I really, really hate it’
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Madison, Wisconsin, Monday, April 8, 2024. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“A future of opportunity, a future where our kids aren’t burdened with student debt, a future where we can build a thriving middle class. That’s what Kamala Harris stands for,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said Monday during a Zoom call with progressive supporters of Harris.
The Department of Education announced last week that it aims to provide debt relief to “tens of millions of borrowers by this fall.”
“Today, the Biden-Harris Administration took another step in our efforts to provide relief to student loan borrowers who have been unable to make payments due to a broken system,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
In an interview with Fox News, Joyce denied that the move was political.
After calling for respect for the justice system, Biden called the Supreme Court’s Trump decision an “assault” on the “rule of law.”
Student loan debt relief activists participate in a rally at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 30, 2023. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court invalidated the Biden Administration’s student loan debt forgiveness program in Biden v. Nebraska. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Frankly, this is coming out in an election year…. The Supreme Court has already said what this administration has done so far is illegal. So now we’re going even further in an election year. It seems to me like they’re trying to get votes instead of getting to the real causes,” he said.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Joyce said the solution is to shift the university’s priorities to focus on providing better value for students.
“There are a lot of great people out there who work hard and could use endowment-funded scholarships instead of taking out federally guaranteed student loans,” Joyce said.
