Get Involved in Higher Education Financial Reform

Americans for Prosperity wants you to get involved in higher education reform

Americans for Prosperity has been leading the call for higher education reform, engaging people like you who want to see more value for the money they put toward a college degree.

You have probably heard that tuition has increased 400% over the past 25 years, and the average student graduates from a four-year public university in Texas with more than $25,000 in student loan debt. Total student loan debt in America is approaching $1 trillion!

We need you to get engaged in this very important issue – our children can’t afford to start life loaded down with debt, and our economy can’t survive under that kind of unsustainable debt either.

I ask that you please take a moment to read this important article on higher education reform, and be sure to leave a comment at the end of the story:

Results-based model for higher education within reach

Those who support keeping the status-quo of expensive tuition with decreasing accessibility and little-to-no accountability have stormed the comment boards of stories like these in an effort to sway public opinion. But the fight isn’t over – with your help, we can make sure the public sees there is a strong push to make higher education more accountable to their customers – the students and parents who are paying to broaden their horizons.

I’ve attached some talking points to this email that you can use when leaving comments. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Talking Points: Key Points in the higher Education Reform initiative:
Gov. Rick Perry has proposed a goal worth striving to achieve. He wants to see if we can provide a high-quality college degree more affordably. It appears the goal is achievable, but it requires some university professors to increase their teaching loads. Governors higher Education Priorities

For the first time, student loan debt has outpaced credit card debt in this country. And it’s likely to top $1 trillion this year. Mark Kanrowitz on New Debt Numbers

Tuition costs have risen over 100 percent in the last decade. Tuition Study

Research suggests that more and more taxpayer and tuition revenues have been devoted to buying “prestige” for some of our universities by funding research. The elephant in the room: Many of the highest-priced faculty members spend little to no time with undergraduates. Study by Center for College Affordability

Recent polling reveals that 80 percent of Texas voters think Texas colleges and universities can be run more efficiently. Seventy-one percent of voters believe that Texas colleges and universities can improve teaching while reducing operating costs. Survey from Texas Public Policy foundation
Taxpayers want professors to spend more time educating students in the classroom, even at the expense of research. The survey found 87 percent of Texans believe that the most important purpose of a university is to educate students, while only 6 percent say it is to conduct research.

Let’s pay our best teachers as well as we pay our top researchers. What we reward, we get more of, a basic free market principle.
Graduating with a mountain of debt will hinder college graduates’ ability to contribute to our state’s prosperity. Let’s consider ways to increase access and make college more affordable. Students and taxpayers in the Lone Star State are counting on it