The United States Congress should establish an accreditation agency to assess the value of free college-level courses offered over the Internet, according to Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate.
Rubio’s idea is part of an overhaul he is proposing for how students earn four-year degrees, a plan that also calls for alternatives to four-year colleges for some disciplines and income-based repayments for college loans.
Rubio, a senator from Miam, Fla., said the issue with the current system it that there is a widening gap between those with a higher education and those who do not.
“Those with the right advanced education are making more than ever. But those that do not are falling farther and farther behind,” Rubio said at an education forum at Miami Dade College, according to the Associated Press.
“The result is a growing opportunity gap between haves and have-nots, those who have advanced education and those who do not.”
The proposal is of interest to current and future business administration students. Rubio’s proposals will surely not be the last as the nation moves toward the end of President Barack Obama’s administration in 2016 and a new president who may have a different approach to solving the challenges facing both debt-burdened students and colleges with a business model that may not work going forward.
Rubio, outlining some of his plans for the future of higher education, said that he also would like to have cost-benefit assessments supplied to students based on their major. Many of the media reports on debt in recent years have noted that students often will go deeply into debt taking college classes that prepare themselves for occupations that do not pay enough for them to recover the cost.
Rubio, talking with the Associated Press before the conference started, said that the current “old and stagnant education formula” does not meet the demand of students, who realize that higher education is necessary to achieve success in America.
“You have this new economic era, where higher education of some form is really a requirement to make it to the middle class and stabilize yourself,” Rubio said.
The idea of creating alternative to four-year college courses is at the heart of Rubio’s proposal to change the national picture for higher education. He wants to have the federal government evaluate free online courses so that those which are properly accredited could Offer credit for classes taken that could be transferable to traditional schools.
Rubio also is proposing that students could learn skills for certain jobs outside of traditional schools and become certified or earn a degree by passing a standardized test. Another of his ideas calls for private businesses to pay for college tuition in return for the student working a set amount of years for the company upon graduation.
Rubio has said in the past that he knows well the debt problems of students, as he had more than $100,000 in student loans when he became a senator in 2011. According to the Associated Press, the average annual cost for a student at a four-year public college is $18,390 – a number that includes room, board and tuition. At private four-year schools, that number increases to $40,000.
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