A memorandum that reportedly represents a "wish list" of initiatives the White House plans to include in its 2019 budget calls for requiring colleges to bear a share of the risk in student lending and letting Pell Grant recipients use their federal aid for "short-term courses and programs that lead to an industry-recognized credential," Crooked Media reported. The political website linked to the memo, which it said had been leaked.
Details about the proposals, both of which would represent significant changes in federal policy, are sparse in the memo, which contains a bullet point on each. The risk-sharing item says that Rob Goad, a White House education aide, has been working with the Office of Management and Budget on "developing the best path forward" for an approach that would require colleges to "assume a portion of the risk associated with student lending." The broad idea of risk sharing as a way to force institutions to share responsibility when their students are unable to repay their loan debt has gained bipartisan support, although exactly how this would be done is unclear.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/10/23/report-risk-sharing-‘flexible’-pell-white-house-wish-list