Republicans would be wise to get more of their party leaders talking about higher ed reforms.

Allie Bidwell of US News and World Report has the story.

Marco Rubio Calls for ‘Student Investment Plan,’ More Choice in Higher Education

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., proposed an overhaul of America’s higher education system Monday that would include the wider use and acceptance of free online courses, more information about potential earnings and a “pay it forward” investment plan that he said would allow students to attend college without taking out loans.

Rubio said the country’s “postindustrial era” has replaced some middle class jobs with cheaper labor and made other jobs available – but only to those who have the right education, during a speech at a National Journal’s event on community colleges.

“Those with the right advanced education are making more than ever. But those that do not are falling farther and farther behind,” Rubio said. “The result is a growing opportunity gap between the haves and the have-nots, those who have advanced education and those who do not. And if we do not reverse that trend, we will lose the upward mobility that made America exceptional.”

Rubio made several proposals for ways to address shortcomings with the access and affordability of college, focusing on the need to prepare more individuals to fill hundreds of thousands of job openings in the coming decade. One of the reasons America may fall short when it comes to having enough educated and trained workers in the future is the fact that the cost of college has skyrocketed, “at a rate far exceeding the rise of inflation,” Rubio said.

Many of the reasons for problems with access and affordability, Rubio said, stem from the federal government. The federal student loan program, he said, subsidizes “a myriad of nonacademic pursuits” at colleges and universities. The process of applying for financial aid is “confusing and bureaucratic,” while the system of tax policies is “tangled and bureaucratic,” he said.