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Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives today approved H.R. 4137, the “College Access and Opportunity Act” which included an amendment offered by Representatives Jim Moran (VA-8) and Christopher Shays (CT-4) to require a study of how student debt levels impact college graduates’ decisions about whether to enter a public service career.
“On the eve of the retirement of the baby-boom generation, our nation stands ready to receive a new generation of teachers, firefighters, federal employees and other civil servants,” said Moran. “Our hope is this study will help make the case for the creation of a U.S. Public Service Academy, the premier institution for tomorrow’s public service leaders.”
“The public sector needs young leaders to carry our country into an era of new challenges,” stated Shays. “I’m grateful the Education and Labor Committee included our amendment in this legislation so we can determine whether students’ debts discourage them from entering a public service career.”
The Moran-Shays amendment authorizes the Secretary of Education, in conjunction with other experts in the public service field, to study how student loan debt affects a graduate’s decision to enter into a public service career. The study will include an assessment of current recruiting and retaining challenges, an evaluation of existing federal programs and whether additional programs could increase recruitment rates, and recommendations for pilot programs that would increase recruitment rates.
Moran and Shays have introduced H.R. 1671, the Public Service Academy Act, which would create the first national civilian institution of higher education in the United States to provide a competitive, federally subsidized, public service-driven undergraduate education to students from across the United States and around the world. In return for a four-year liberal arts education, students would be required to serve our country for five years in the public sector after graduation.
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