US Sen. Rubio highlights need for higher education reform

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says the country’s higher education system needs to focus less on granting four-year degrees and more on giving students the skills they need to find good-paying jobs.

Rubio’s remarks came Tuesday during a speech at St. Anselm College’s “Politics & Eggs” political lecture series, Rubio’s third public event in two days in the early presidential voting state.

Rubio says Republican candidates must focus on workforce development as much as on economic growth. He says schools can better prepare students to go straight into jobs as welders or medical technicians out of high school and better inform students who want to go to college about job prospects of certain majors.

Rubio says the Democrats’ solution is to “pour more money” into higher education, which won’t work.