Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) will be attending a hearing today in Washington that will focus on the dramatic growth of college endowments.
Reed – who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee – will participate with other committee members in learning about the trend of large endowments at universities and colleges across the country, which comes at the expense of rising student tuition.
Today’s hearing will feature testimony from representatives from some colleges and universities who are taking innovative steps to address the rising cost of college and ensure accessibility for all.
Reed said the hearing is part of the effort to draft a new law in Washington known as the Reducing Excessive Debt and Unfair Costs of Education (REDUCE) act. The proposed bill would require colleges with endowments larger than $1 billion to distribute a portion of the profits as tuition relief for students from working families that meet eligibility guidelines, or would otherwise face a tax penalty. In addition, the bill will include a requirement for colleges and universities to develop a cost containment plan to keep tuition increases in check.
“We care about helping students and working families afford college. That’s why we are working on a proposal that will require colleges and universities to submit a plan detailing their efforts controlling college costs. Its only right that we go beyond our endowment proposal and address the real culprit of rising college costs.” said Reed.
According to Reed’s office, more and more colleges are seeing endowment funds that exceed a billion dollars. In 2015 alone, Harvard earned $5.5 billion in endowment returns, enough to fully eliminate the tuition costs for all 6,700 undergraduate students at the university.
Leave a Reply