House Passes HEA Reauthorization (2/8/2008)

Last night, the House passed H.R. 4317, which reauthorizes the Higher Education Act (HEA), by a vote of 354-58. By passing the bill, the House finally caught up with their counterparts in the Senate, who passed their own HEA reauthorization bill last summer. Although the conference date has yet to be set, both chambers are pushing for quick negotiations, despite a possible veto threat. Lawmakers are aiming to have the bill signed into law by March 31st, when the current HEA extension runs out.

As the House worked their way through the twenty-seven amendments offered on the House floor, eventually accepting all but one, higher education advocates began to see the possibility of the first HEA reauthorization in roughly ten years. Although there was a contentious debate regarding the level of funding for Pell grants, the bill received overwhelming bipartisan support. The House bill goes beyond the matter of college affordability, which was addressed in the College Cost Reduction Act, signed into law last year. The bill would:

• Give the U.S. Education Department (ED) significantly more authority to regulate private student loans, as part of a broad set of provisions — prompted by last year’s investigations into illegal inducements given to colleges by lenders — aimed at cracking down on the behavior of lenders and college officials in making loans to students.
• Dictate that colleges craft plans for giving students legal ways to download movies and music, and explore technologies to stop illegal peer to peer file sharing. This provision had been strongly opposed by several college groups, especially since those promoting it based their arguments largely on data about campus downloading that have since been shown to be seriously flawed.
• Bar ED from issuing regulations governing higher education accreditation, designed to ensure that colleges are measuring student learning outcomes. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings vehemently opposes the provision and will try to alter it when House and Senate negotiators meet to craft a compromise version of the Higher Ed Act legislation in coming weeks. The legislation would also create a new federal position, an “ombudsman,” to intervene in disputes related to accreditation.
• Extend to three years from two the period the federal government uses to calculate the rate at which student loan borrowers default, but delay implementation of the change until 2012.
• Set a ceiling on the maximum Pell Grant of $9,000, and allow students to receive Pell Grant funds year-round, instead of just during the traditional academic year.
• Require States to maintain their financial support of higher education and allow ED to withhold some funds to States that cut their college appropriations — an idea endorsed by some college officials but strongly opposed by many state legislators.
• Under the Academic Competitiveness Grant Program, make grants for low-income students available to part-time students and those seeking certificates as well as degrees.
• Take the Education Secretary out of the business of deciding whether high school programs are of sufficient academic rigor to quality students for the grants, leaving that decision instead up to state officials.
• Mandate that textbook publishers expand the information they provide to faculty members about pricing and changes from past editions. Colleges would be required to include more information about required books in the course schedules to help students shop for books more cost effectively.
• Crack down on diploma mills by directing ED to publish lists of accredited institutions and accreditation agencies.
• Make it easier for students to get information about their financial aid awards and generally simplify the process by which students — particularly those from low-income families — can qualify for federal financial aid.
• Establish a loan fund to help colleges and universities damaged or otherwise impaired by natural disasters such as the 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
• Toughen standards for teacher education programs.

Despite the number of amendments, there are only minor differences between the House and Senate versions. This should allow conferees to get a reconciled bill to their respective floors for a vote by the end of the month.

The final hurdle is a possible veto threat from the Bush Administration. The White House issued as Statement of Administration of Policy yesterday saying it “strongly opposes” this legislation because it limits the U.S. Department of Education’s authority, creates numerous expensive and duplicative programs and wrongly conditions receipt of federal grant funding on tuition price. Despite the President’s opposition, Congressional leaders continue to expect the bill to become law this year, due to the large support base on Capitol Hill.

Resources:
Stephen Langel, “House Easily Approves Higher Ed Reauthorization; Conference Up Next,” Congress Now, February 7, 2008.
Doug Lederman, “House, Focusing on Cost, Approves Higher Education Act,” Inside Higher Ed, February 8, 2008.
Author: SAS