3 higher ed questions for Trump’s secretary of education nominee

Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, is scheduled to have her confirmation hearing at 5 p.m. today.

DeVos will be questioned by members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on health, education, labor, and pensions.

While she will likely face questions about her stance on school choice and common core, she could also face some questions on higher education.

Here are three questions DeVos may face during her hearing:

1. What is her stance on student loan debt and college affordability?

Student loan debt is an issue that has heavily impacted Dayton-area college students.

Local college students carry more loan debt than the state average. Two-thirds of 2015 Ohio grads had loan debt and they left college with an average debt of $30,239.

Trump has said he wants to give federal tax breaks to colleges that make a “good-faith effort” to cut down on costs that contribute to student debt.

Can DeVos offer any more specifics on such a plan?

2. Will she alter guidelines on how colleges handle campus rape?

Rape and sexual assault continue to be an issue on college campuses across the country.

Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, has publicly recommended that Trump roll back U.S. Department of Education guidelines for how colleges should handle sexual assault.

Does DeVos support this proposal and what are her thoughts on campus rape and sexual assault in general?

3. Does she support or oppose the continuation of DACA for college students?

Hundreds of college presidents across the country came out in support of a policy that protects from deportation people who arrived in the United States illegally as children.

Eric Spina of the University of Dayton was among hundreds of college presidents who signed a letter supporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA.

Will DeVos support the continuation of DACA despite Trump’s statements that he might end the policy?

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