FSCA NEWS

On Feb. 7, the House passed HR 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, by a wide, bipartisan margin -- 354-58. This bill would reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), a feat that has not been accomplished since 1998 and is five years overdue. The House and Senate must now meet to negotiate a compromise version of their two bills before final enactment. The Senate passed its bill, S. 1642, last summer by a vote of 95-0. Both bills are hundreds of pages in length and make thousands of changes to current law, but it is hoped that the House and Senate can pass a compromise bill and present it to President Bush by March 31, the date the current HEA "extender" expires.

As is often the case with such a large legislative effort, a number of education groups, and members of Congress, took issue with certain provisions of the bill, although few found these provisions odious enough to provoke opposition to the larger bill. Debate of the bill pointed to familiar issues in higher education policy, including rules governing the practice of student lending, efforts to control increasing tuition rates, programs to help members of the Armed Services and their families in the pursuit of postsecondary education, steps to ease the financial aid application process and initiatives addressing textbook expenses, among others.

Broadly, the bill's supporters portray it as an effort to control college costs and make it easier for more people to attend college. It would increase the authorized maximum Pell Grant award to $9,000 from the current level of $5,800 and creates a number of new initiatives that would ostensibly bring transparency to college costs and value.

One amendment of particular interest to the higher education community came from Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and would require annual reporting by colleges and universities on how much of their endowment is paid out each year for the purpose of containing college costs. There has been much attention paid to the surprisingly large endowments of certain colleges and universities in recent weeks - wealth that many question as escalating tuition rates that put many of these institutions out of reach for the middle and even upper middle classes.

In a press release related to the bill's passage, George Miller (D-Calif.), House Education and Labor Committee chairman, said, "Last year, by enacting a $20 billion increase in federal student aid, the largest increase since the G.I. Bill of 1944, this Congress took an historic step to help American families pay for college. Now we are redoubling our commitment to college students and parents by reining in skyrocketing tuition prices and making our whole system of higher education far more consumer-friendly."

More info

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel020708hea.html