Is a College Education a Safe Investment?
A Q&A with U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal on canceling student-loan debts, the pandemic’s hit to college enrollment and why elite schools should pay less attention to college rankings.
Too many students leave campus without degrees.
Photographer: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times
This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve the world’s most pressing policy challenges. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Romesh Ratnesar: The Build Back Better Act passed last month in the House of Representatives contains significant investments in higher education, including billions in support for historically black colleges and universities and a new fund to help college students complete their degrees. However, some of President Biden’s key priorities were dropped from the bill, including making community college tuition-free for all. You’re the country’s top official on higher education policy. What do you say to advocates who believe this was the best opportunity to achieve free college — and now it may never happen?
James Kvaal, Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education: This is the way the system works — the president proposes something and then you have to get it through Congress. I know that he fought very hard [for free community college] and if there were something he could do to get it in the package, it would be in the package. That said, this idea has come a tremendous distance since people started talking about it six years ago. It will continue to be one of the president’s top priorities and we’re going to explore every tool that we have to keep moving toward this goal.