Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Susan Brooks (R-IN) are
circulating a bipartisan “Dear Colleague” letter urging House leaders
to request an additional $47 billion in supplemental funding to stabilize
universities and colleges and support students pursuing higher education during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The representatives say this legislation is critical to
“ensure that students are not priced out of higher education that will be
essential for workforce development, and to ensure that colleges and
universities remain stable engines of economic growth.”
Their proposal is very similar to the request that ACE and
other higher education associations submitted April 9 to the House and Senate for student and institutional aid. This recommendation is in addition to the roughly $14
billion in funding for higher education included in the CARES Act, which ACE President Ted Mitchell has noted was
inadequate to support student needs such as housing, technology assistance for
online learning, or travel, and to support colleges that are losing staggering
sums after closing.
Institutions are encouraged to contact their House
delegations to request they sign on to the letter before the May 12 deadline.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are
reportedly preparing to unveil the next COVID-19 spending package soon, which
Schumer said last week
would be “Rooseveltian” in its scope and size.
ACE,
higher education groups lay groundwork for next bill: In preparation for the next round, ACE and 31 other
higher education groups sent a letter last
week requesting a range of clarifications and technical corrections to
provisions in the CARES Act that have presented certain problems, including limiting
the scope of aid to students and delays in disbursement.
The
groups believe that the Department of Education’s (ED) efforts to implement the
law created an administrative roadblock for institutions that are trying to get
the funding out quickly because they are unsure of the final rules. ED’s guidance
has made millions of students facing dire financial problems ineligible for these
emergency grants. While ED was expected to release further guidance on CARES
Act funds distribution, that has yet to happen.