Strongly supporting the quality and value of diversity and innovation in the Nation’s higher education institutions, and strongly disagreeing with the President’s proposal to create and administer a Postsecondary Institution Ratings System.

students and families should maintain the right and responsibility of determining where to enroll for postsecondary education;

the Federal Government, in conjunction with States and accreditors, has a responsibility to ensure that the significant taxpayer funds that are invested in student aid each year are appropriately spent, and has tools such as program reviews and eligibility and certification procedures that should be better targeted to those purposes;

the Federal Government also has a positive role it could play in making information available to enable informed choices about postsecondary education available to prospective students and the Administration should work collaboratively with the higher education community to make that information more consumer friendly and accessible to those students and their families; and

the Administration’s proposal to rate postsecondary institutions through an oversimplified Federal rating system that is not supported by postsecondary institutions, statute, or by the House of Representatives, will lead to less choice, diversity, and innovation, and should be rejected.