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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

Higher Ed Experts Debate Likelihood of HEA Reauthorization This Year

Feb 12, 2019, 16:01 PM
legacy id :
Summary : Congressional education committee chairmen discuss dueling visions for HEA overhaul. Panel of higher ed experts expresses little confidence in passage of legislation in the near future.
Url :

At a panel discussion hosted by Inside Higher Ed, the leaders of Congressional education committees discussed their dueling visions for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA), according to a NASFAA overview of the event.


U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the chamber's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, reiterated his goal of passing higher education legislation this year. Sen. Alexander previously outlined his top priorities for a bill to overhaul the massive higher education law: streamlining the federal student aid application, simplifying student loan repayment options, and establishing a new accountability system based on student loan repayment rates.

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, followed Alexander with remarks that expressed less optimism that both sides of aisle would come to an agreement on key issues in the near future, citing vast differences in their respective higher education bills during the last Congress. Rep. Scott said Thursday that he was "encouraged by the optimism in the House and Senate" to take up higher education issues, but that he was not open to finding a "narrow compromise" on policies for the sake of passing a bill soon.

A panel of higher education experts—Terry Hartle, Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs of the American Council on Education; Julie Peller, Executive Director of Higher Learning Advocates; and Jee Hang Lee, Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations for the Association of Community College Trustees—continued the discussion, expressing little confidence that Congress would be able to find the bipartisan support to pass a bill in the near future.

Hartle said that a comprehensive HEA reform would be a "heavy lift," as issues surrounding topics such as Title VII, policies targeting the for-profit sector, and setting up an accountability system would "derail" the conversation among lawmakers.


Peller called Alexander's Christmas timeline "aggressive and unlikely," especially due to the fact that he and Scott are currently focused on very different issues within higher education. She added that "time is really the biggest enemy here," with regards to passing a bill soon, as the House committee is largely new to Congress and education issues—a concern echoed by the other panelists.

Related Links

NASFAA News Article

https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/17420/Higher_Education_Experts_Doubt_New_Congress_Will_Pass_HEA_Reauthorization_Bill
Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Higher Education Act
Tags :
  • Federal relations
  • for-profit colleges
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