The House of Representatives passed five higher education bills
yesterday that aim to improve the financial aid process, enhance
consumer information and strengthen federal programs that support the
work of minority-serving institutions such as Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
The measures include:
The Simplifying the Application for Student Aid Act (H.R. 5528),
which is designed to ease the process of applying for federal student
aid and give prospective students a clearer idea of the aid they are
eligible for much earlier in the process. The bill would allow students
to apply for financial aid based on their family’s income from two years
earlier instead of the immediately previous year, a long-sought
approach known as “prior-prior year.” This means that the financial aid
process would be changed so that students can submit their FAFSA form as early as October for the academic year beginning following summer or fall, codifying into law an initiative the Obama administration announced last fall.
The HBCU Capital Financing Improvement Act (H.R. 5530),
which is intended to improve access to and oversight of an existing
program that enables HBCUs to improve their campuses to better serve
their students.
The Accessing Higher Education Opportunities Act (H.R. 5529)
would expand the allowable use of Higher Education Act Title V funds to
help students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions pursue a career as a
physician, dentist or other health care professional and enhance
existing support for Hispanic students pursuing their education.
The final two bills—the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (H.R. 3178) and the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (H.R. 3179)—would
help students make more informed decisions about where to pursue their
education and how to manage their federal financial aid.
ACE and 20 other higher education associations sent a letter
(247 KB PDF) to the House Education and the Workforce Committee in advance of its
June 22 approval of the bill, writing that they “appreciate the
sponsors’ efforts to help students and their families and are eager to
collaborate with them to improve these bills and strike the appropriate
balance in meeting those goals.”
But further action on the bills this year is unlikely, as the Senate is not expected to take them up.