Rubio Campaign Press Release - America's Education System Needs A Disruption

Our current higher education system is outdated and fundamentally broken. It is too expensive, too time consuming, and too difficult to access. Unfortunately, the ideas President Obama offers does nothing to deal with the underlying problems in the current system. Instead, they would double-down on Washington's failed strategy of spending more taxpayer money on the same outdated model. This will not be good enough.

While higher education was merely an option for most Americans in the last century, today it is a necessity for nearly everyone. This is because our economy has fundamentally changed. Technology has replaced many low-skilled jobs, and the higher-paying jobs of tomorrow require more advanced skills than ever before. To make the 21st century an American century, we must bring higher education within reach of all.

With so many new ways to share and access knowledge, there is no reason our people should still have to spend tens of thousands of dollars and four years on a campus to earn degrees. It's time for Washington to embrace the 21st century. As president, rather than attempting to simply cover the symptoms of high tuition rates, I will fundamentally overhaul higher education to change how we provide degrees, how those degrees are accessed, how much that access costs, how those costs are paid, and even how those payments are determined.

First, I will reform our accreditation system to welcome low-cost, innovative higher education providers, which are currently being blocked by the existing institutions that control accreditation. This will transform higher education by exposing it to the market forces of choice and competition. The needs of students will become the primary driving force. As more affordable and accessible providers enter, existing colleges and universities will be forced to lower their prices to stay competitive.

Next, I will help students and families earn the right degree at the right price from the right institution for them. I'll require schools to tell students how much they can expect to earn with a given degree before they take out the loans to pay for it. I will open financial aid programs that allow working students to go to school at night, online, and on weekends. I will make career and vocational education more widespread, even allowing high school students like those President Obama will be speaking to today to graduate with a certification to instantly enter a good-paying career.

I will create new alternatives to student loans. I will also tie traditional loan repayment to each graduate's income, enabling those who earn more to pay back their loans faster and those who earn less to make smaller payments over a longer period of time. This will dramatically reduce the financial risks of earning a degree.

If we take these steps to transform higher education, families won't struggle as much to afford college — and the government won't have to spend as much, or tax as much, to help them pay. While President Obama's plan would spend $60 billion to provide free access to community college, my plan would ensure students have multiple affordable options so they don't feel pressured to pick the one government will pay for. While President Obama's plan would double down on outdated methods of earning degrees, my plan would allow students to combine what they already know with faster and more affordable pathways to a degree.

Higher education is only one of the outdated institutions I will modernize as president. Its failings demonstrate how 20th century institutions cannot be used to access 21st century opportunities, and President Obama's adherence to the old way of doing things demonstrates the need for a new president with new ideas. Embracing the future with enthusiasm and vision is the only way to create a new American century.

(Op-ed originally appeared in the Des Moines Register on September 13, 2015)