In Testimony, Huelsman to Remind Policymakers That Students Only Benefit From Increased Transparency When Accompanied by Action to Rein in College Costs for Working Families and Make College Free

November 6, 2025 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mark Huelsman, a fellow at Protect Borrowers and Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at Temple University, will testify today before the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee at a hearing titled “Reforming Financial Transparency in Higher Education.” The hearing will focus on the need to increase college cost transparency and clarity for students and families attempting to navigate the process of paying for college following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). 

Read Mark Huelsman’s full written testimony here.

Huelsman’s testimony will sound the alarm on the college affordability crisis taking place across the country and discuss the many challenges students and families face as they try to finance a higher education while also covering rising costs of other essential goods and services. 

Huelsman’s testimony will stress that efforts to make college costs transparent will be fruitless if students and families cannot cover these costs—he will call on policymakers to make tuition and debt-free public college a reality. His testimony will also discuss how the new OBBBA law will make it even more expensive and risky for students and families to pay for college by pushing more students into the private loan market and slashing critical safety net programs that will force states to raise college tuition prices.

From his testimony:

“We cannot expect students to succeed in their studies if they do not have sufficient food in their stomachs, roofs over their head, or reliable internet service to do their coursework. Yet this is exactly what we ask of millions of students across the country every day.

“And as direct costs creep ever higher, students are also swept up in the middle of a cost of living crisis, in which they must find a way to budget for ever-higher food prices, child care prices that dwarf college tuition in 38 states, and health insurance premiums that are set to skyrocket in large part due to Congress’s decision to allow enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire. Rents for student housing have grown at a faster rate than other types of multi-family housing over the past two years, and utility bills continue to skyrocket.

“Unfortunately, we are going backwards in terms of providing families the information they need to make informed decisions, thanks to the Trump Administration’s decisions to dismantle the agencies responsible for providing students with data, resources, and basic consumer protections. Worse, several provisions within the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will result in higher college prices, more limited financial aid resources, and unstable state budgets, and will force students into a private student loan market that is neither transparent nor affordable.

“I urge this Committee to not simply find ways to make higher education costs clearer, but prioritize lowering the cost of attendance for students, ensuring students have the resources to meet their full cost, and ensuring that no student is barred from opportunity because their family cannot afford to pay.”

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About Protect Borrowers

Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.

Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.