Condescending Paternalism 2.0: Trump Administration, Congress Are Restoring Veterans’ Earned Education Benefits

Nearly three years since the publication of its flagship Condescending Paternalism report, the National Defense Committee released a new, in-depth follow-up analysis today: Condescending Paternalism 2.0: How the Department of Education and Congress Are Collaborating to Restore Veterans’ EARNED Education Benefits.

After years of discriminatory regulation, which protected conventional private, public, and state-run colleges and universities by erecting regulatory hurdles exclusively against career colleges, President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have begun restoring parity and accountability to the higher education system, the report finds.

During the first year-and-a-half of the President’s second term, his administration and leaders in Congress have achieved many of the recommendations proposed in NDC’s original Condescending Paternalism report, including:

• Proposed repealing the Gainful Employment Rule and recommended replacing it with a uniform “earnings premium” test that applies to all types of colleges and universities, not only a select few.

• Revised the Department of Education’s interpretation of the 90/10 Rule’s preamble, allowing institutions to consider funding from programs offered through distance education or at unapproved locations as non-federal student aid, thus providing military members and veterans greater autonomy to pick programs that align with their lives and learning and career goals.

• Ended the previous administration’s mass student loan cancellation program and began moving approximately 1.8 million borrowers into repayment plans.

• Initiated a negotiated rulemaking (ongoing at the time of this paper’s publication) to ensure the college accreditation system does not contribute to credential inflation, rising costs, and programmatic underperformance.

Additionally, Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) recently introduced legislation to permanently repeal the Department of Education’s 90/10 Rule. The National Defense Committee and a coalition of military and veterans organizations endorsed the legislation last month.

These accomplishments mark a fundamental shift in higher education policy, helping to restore value and dignity to servicemembers’ and veterans’ earned education benefits, the paper notes. 

Congress and the Trump administration should codify these changes into law to prevent future politization of higher education policy and provide certainty to students and institutions. The report recommends:

• Repealing the 90/10 Rule, as proposed by Senator Banks’ PARITY Act;

• Prohibiting the Department of Education from implementing additional income-based testing on top of the new earnings-premium standard.

• Building a regulatory framework that fosters continued competition and innovation in higher education.

• Launching investigations into lobbyist activities to provide greater transparency and accountability in higher education policy.

The Trump administration’s paradigm shift promises to restore value and dignity to veterans’ earned education benefits and foster competition and innovation in higher education, the report concludes. Congress and the administration should secure this progress by codifying the changes into law and federal regulation. 

Read the Full Condescending Paternalism 2.0 Report Here