Ohio Gov. John Kasich gave a surprising answer Wednesday when asked how he would address the student debt crisis, which he called a “moral issue.”
“I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service, and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do,” Kasich said during the third Republican presidential debate. “And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves.”
Kasich said that Ohio is in the process of reforming its higher education system, and school’s will be held accountable for student performance.
“Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or completes a course,” he said.
He said colleges in his state are also finding new ways to cut costs by going after “non-academic assets.”
“At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn’t be in the parking lot business. They shouldn’t be in the ding business, they shouldn’t be in the dorm business,” he said.
Gov. Jeb Bush agreed with Kasich that colleges need more accountability, and said the issue should be left to the states.
“We don’t need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt,” Bush said. “Let the states do this. You’ll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won’t in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs.”
