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Higher Education Act

The Higher Education Act (HEA) is a federal law that governs the administration of federal higher education programs. Its purpose is to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education.

First passed in 1965 to ensure that every individual has access to higher education, regardless of income or zip code, the HEA governs student-aid programs, federal aid to colleges, and oversight of teacher preparation programs. It is generally scheduled for reauthorization by Congress every five years to encourage growth and change.

The HEA has been reauthorized in 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2008. Current authorization for the programs in the Higher Education Act expired at the end of 2013, but has been extended while Congress prepares changes and amendments.
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Latest Actions

Efforts to update the Higher Education Act stalled as the COVID-19 pandemic put Congressional discussions on hold. Prior to the outbreak, lawmakers were reportedly close to reaching a deal after years of failure. However, there is hope that negotiations will eventually resume in the 117th Congress.

HEA in the 116th Congress

  • Senate Action

    U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in September 2019 introduced a piecemeal approach to update the Higher Education Act in the 116th Congress (2019-2020). The Student Aid Improvement Act, S. 2557, included eight bipartisan bills to streamline the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA), simplify financial aid award letters, expand Pell Grant eligibility for students in prisons and allow Pell to be used for short-term programs, among other changes. The proposal followed months of stalled efforts to reach a bipartisan deal for a comprehensive HEA reauthorization.

    SENATE PRESS RELEASE   BILL TEXT

  • House Action

    Democrats on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee in October 2019 unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the federal higher education law, aiming to cut the cost of college and increase access to college for low-income and minority students. The College Affordability Act included provisions that would:

    • Include the Reverse Transfer Efficiency Act, which AACRAO strongly supports and has advocated for over the past several years
    • Create a national tuition-free community college through a federal-state partnership model where the federal government contributes a per student amount at least 75 percent of the average resident tuition for public community colleges and states contribute 25 percent
    • Increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $500 and permanently index the award to inflation
    • Simplify FAFSA, including an automatic zero EFC for recipients of means-tested benefits
    • Create the Federal Direct Perkins Loan Program to provide an additional source of borrowing for undergraduates and graduates
    • Allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and certain other undocumented students access to federal student aid
    • Repeal the federal "student unit record" ban and require the Education Department to develop a system that uses student-level data to evaluate postsecondary outcomes
    • Change the 90/10 rule ratio (the percentage cap of Title IV aid an institution may receive) to 85/15 and expand it to include all educational programs
    • Require the Education Department to establish a Borrower Defense to Repayment process to discharge the federal loans of students who were defrauded by their colleges
    • Require the Education Department to establish a compliance standard that includes a debt-to-earnings threshold for training programs that are statutorily required to lead to gainful employment
    • Prohibit the Education Department from issuing or enforcing the proposed Title IX rules that the Trump administration published in November 2018, among other things.
     

    The College Affordability Act shared some key provisions with the Senate's package of bipartisan bills. Both proposals aimed to streamline FAFSA, simplify financial aid award letters, and expand Pell eligibility for incarcerated students and short-term programs—although the House bill excluded for-profit colleges.

    However, the House measure did not gain any traction in the 116th Congress's Republican-controlled Senate.

    HOUSE PRESS RELEASE BILL TEXT OVERVIEW OF COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY ACT

     

UPDATES

AACRAO Advocates on Capitol Hill

Jun 27, 2019, 16:09 PM
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Summary : AACRAO Hill Day attendees connected with Congressional staff to share their practitioner perspective on how policy impacts their work on a daily basis.
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Last week, 53 AACRAO Advocates walked the halls of Congress to meet with over 100 House and Senate offices—nearly 20 percent of all Congressional offices—to share their practitioner perspective on how policy impacts their work on a daily basis. 

AACRAO Hill Day attendees connected with Congressional staff to discuss the association's priorities for the Higher Education Act reauthorization, including support for federal financial aid funding and updates to FERPA. They will also promoted legislative efforts to advance reverse transfer practices and protect Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients.

Ahead of the meetings, AACRAO advocates heard from Michael Stratford, Education Reporter at Politico about current issues affecting higher education. A panel of Congressional staffers including Lauren Marshall, Legislative Assistant to Senator Mark Warner (D-VA); Josiah Boman, Legislative Assistant to Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO); and Michael Black, Legislative Assistant to Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), offered advice about meeting with Members of Congress and their assistants, providing tips on how to best engage on key issues and navigate Capitol Hill.

While meeting with House offices, advocates encouraged Members of Congress to support H.R. 2768 and H.R. 2724. The Reverse Transfer Efficiency Act, H.R. 2768, would create a new exemption under FERPA to assist institutions identify students who have earned enough credits to be awarded an associate's degree through reverse transfer. The Protecting Education Privacy Act, and H.R. 2724, would rescind some of the 2012 regulatory amendments to FERPA that greatly broadened the definition of who is given access to personally identifiable information from student records on a nonconsensual basis.

On the Senate side, attendees urged offices to support the upper chamber's version of The Reverse Transfer Efficiency Act, S. 1490. Additionally, advocates pushed for swift passage of The Dream Act of 2019, S. 874, and The Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency (SECURE) Act, S.879. The Dream Act would provide permanent legal protections and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. The SECURE Act would allow Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients to apply for legal permanent residency. House Democrats recently passed their version of the Dream Act—the Dream and Promise Act—which includes elements of both Senate bills.

Overall, our AACRAO members successfully advocated Congress on behalf of the association, their home states, and, most importantly, their students. We encourage all of our members to get involved in advocacy efforts to advance policies and practices that best serve your institutions and students.

Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • FERPA
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Higher Education Act
  • Immigration
  • Reverse Transfer
Tags :
  • dream act
  • Federal relations
  • tps
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