Rick ScottVerified account

Second, students who do go to a four-year college or university are becoming burdened with mountains of debt. Debt that is frankly unsustainable for people to pay off.

As Governor of Florida, I had two main goals: to keep college affordable for students and to realign the incentives in the higher education system to promote career readiness and skills training. My whole focus was to make sure students were able to get a job when they graduated.

These are simple concepts – it’s about creating incentives to make sure all of our higher education institutions were doing their most important job: preparing students for the opportunity to get a great job, build a career and become self-sufficient.

The results speak for themselves. For 3 years in a row, @usnews has rated Florida’s higher education system as the best in the nation. And we have the 2nd lowest state university tuition in the nation. Our students are getting a world-class education at a price they can afford.

Now, I’m looking at what we can do on the federal level to drive down costs for students and their families and incentivize colleges and universities to actually prepare students for a job.

Here’s what I’m proposing: First, if a student defaults on their federal loan, the institution where they took classes should be responsible for a portion of that default.

Second, we need to apply the same rules to Not-for-profit institutions as we do to for-profit institutions. All institutions should be held to the same standards when it comes to preparing students for jobs, and ultimately be held accountable for their performance.

Third, if a college or university raises tuition or fees, they will be automatically cut off from ALL federal funding, including federally-guaranteed loan programs. That’s right, ALL FEDERAL FUNDING WILL BE CUT OFF IF TUITION OR FEES ARE INCREASED.

Fourth, Pell Grants should be eligible for use at technical colleges. Our great technical schools prepare students for work in high-demand fields, and students should be allowed to use Pell Grants to pursue the education that will put them on the path to success.

Finally, we must remove onerous Obama-era regulations that hinder private lenders from giving loans. If a private bank wants to lend to our students, they can. And U.S. taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for every student loan in our country.