The House Education and the Workforce Committee this morning voted to
approve five higher education measures focused on improving the
financial aid process, enhancing consumer information and strengthening
federal programs that support the work of minority-serving institutions
such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and
Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
Together these bills represent a bipartisan step forward in the
ongoing process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). Since
the original HEA was created in 1965, the sweeping law governing federal
higher education programs has been rewritten eight separate times. The
current HEA was set to expire at the end of 2013 but has now been
extended through 2016 while Congress works on the next reauthorization.
ACE and 20 other higher education associations sent a letter
to the committee in advance of the vote, 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.”
The bills 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 in the following summer or fall, codifying into law an initiative
the Obama administration announced last fall. The bill also contains
several other common-sense adjustments to the application process
without imposing additional burden on institutions.
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. As currently drafted, this bill would make targeted
changes to the program that are critical to these institutions and their
historically underserved students. The associations wrote
(247 KB PDF) that they “look forward to working with the committee to strengthen the
bill through the inclusion of additional improvements to enhance the
overall effectiveness of the program.”
The Accessing Higher Education Opportunities Act (H.R. 5529)
would expand the allowable use of HEA 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. While the
groups are strongly supportive of the goals of these bills, elements of
both measures are complex and likely to be difficult and expensive to
implement.
During the hearing, ranking member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and several
committee members urged quick work on a full-scale HEA bill, but said
these measures were a step in the right direction. They likely will be
taken up by the full House sometime this year—possibly as soon as next week—but are not expected to be considered by the Senate.