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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, President Barack Obama has pledged to provide | ||||||
| 3 | support to students in an effort to reach his goal of the | ||||||
| 4 | United States leading the world with the highest proportion of | ||||||
| 5 | college graduates by 2020; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, America's higher education system is comprised of | ||||||
| 7 | public and private schools, both for-profit and | ||||||
| 8 | not-for-profit; it is a recognized fact that for-profit career | ||||||
| 9 | colleges and technical schools are a critical part of our | ||||||
| 10 | educational infrastructure; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, These schools are currently serving a | ||||||
| 12 | disproportionately high number of adult, minority, and | ||||||
| 13 | lower-income students typically identified as "at risk"; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, The United States Department of Education is | ||||||
| 15 | considering a Gainful Employment rule that would affect all | ||||||
| 16 | for-profit colleges, universities, and technical schools here | ||||||
| 17 | in Illinois and throughout the nation; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, The rule would eliminate the opportunity to pursue | ||||||
| 19 | a chosen program utilizing Title IV financial aid should the | ||||||
| 20 | student fail to meet an arbitrary debt-to-income ratio; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, The proposed rule would deny opportunity to | ||||||
| 2 | students who, due to their socio-economic backgrounds, are most | ||||||
| 3 | likely to fail this litmus test and thus harm those who need | ||||||
| 4 | help the most; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, The students and academic programs that would be | ||||||
| 6 | most affected by this measure are those most critical to | ||||||
| 7 | meeting the Obama Administration's post-secondary education | ||||||
| 8 | goals; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, For-profit institutions tailor their programs to | ||||||
| 10 | these non-traditional students who enroll in career and | ||||||
| 11 | technical programs to gain real-world skills, often while | ||||||
| 12 | working or caring for their own families; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, These institutions of higher learning have | ||||||
| 14 | educated millions of students, afforded them career | ||||||
| 15 | opportunities, and served the student population extremely | ||||||
| 16 | well; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, Rates of student debt incurred to achieve these | ||||||
| 18 | goals are a concern shared by students, families, and our | ||||||
| 19 | nation as a whole; and | ||||||
| 20 | WHEREAS, The unintended consequences of this regulation | ||||||
| 21 | would harm students, families, communities, and the economic | ||||||
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| 1 | strength of our nation; and | ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, A large, bi-partisan majority in the United States | ||||||
| 3 | House of Representatives has expressed their disapproval of the | ||||||
| 4 | current rule as an inappropriate response to these issues by | ||||||
| 5 | voting to defund efforts to implement the proposal; therefore, | ||||||
| 6 | be it
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| 7 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 8 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 9 | we urge the United States Department of Education and Education | ||||||
| 10 | Secretary Arne Duncan to not endorse the Gainful Employment | ||||||
| 11 | rule, an ill-conceived approach to regulating student | ||||||
| 12 | financial aid which limits choice and opportunity, and instead | ||||||
| 13 | work with Congress on a solution that does not further harm the | ||||||
| 14 | very students it seeks to protect; and be it further
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| 15 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be sent | ||||||
| 16 | to Secretary Arne Duncan.
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