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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

House Committee Approves HEA Reauthorization Bill

Oct 31, 2019, 11:40 AM
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Summary : Panel passes sweeping $400 billion overhaul of federal student aid and other higher education programs. AACRAO, and other higher ed groups, chime in on the proposed legislation.
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The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today advanced a sweeping overhaul of federal student aid and other higher education programs. 

The College Affordability Act, H.R. 4674, the Democrats' $400 billion proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), calls for expanding federal student aid programs, new federal funding to help states provide tuition-free community college, and new accountability requirements.

The panel considered dozens of proposed amendments on Tuesday and Wednesday and reconvened again today to vote on final amendments and ultimately pass the updated measure, Politico reported.

The committee approved a package of revisions, by Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA), to the original bill that would provide an additional boost to the Pell Grant program, increasing the maximum grant award by $625—instead of $500—to $6,820 for fiscal 2021. It would also expand subsidized federal student loans to graduate and professional students and replace the six-year statute of limitations on defaulted loans with a cap on collection fees charged to defaulted borrowers, among other things.

Meanwhile, the panel rejected a competing 685-page Republican-sponsored substitute amendment to overhaul HEA. The proposal from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), ranking member of the education committee, would have emphasized college completion, simplified student aid, encouraged transparency in price and outcome, and removed bureaucratic barriers imposed by the federal government.

It still remains unclear whether the committee-approved legislation will move forward for a vote on the House floor. Republicans have opposed the measure, criticizing the overall increase in federal spending on higher education in the bill as well as what they said was too much emphasis on four-year degrees at the expense of career and technical training, Politico reported. GOP lawmakers also took issue with provisions of the legislation that targeted for-profit colleges.

Ahead of this week's markup, AACRAO and 32 other higher education associations sent a letter to House education committee leaders outlining areas of support and concern with the proposed bill. The College Affordability Act contains a number of provisions that colleges and universities have long supported and that would be beneficial for students and institutions, such as significant increases in student aid and institutional support, especially for institutions that have historically been under resourced. However, these are offset by "intrusive, complicated, or burdensome processes that will undercut the bill's primary goal to make higher education more affordable and undermine many of the other worthy goals of the legislation," the groups argued in the letter.

While the bill makes "substantive improvements in major areas," the higher education community's concerns "are sufficiently significant to prevent our support of the bill as introduced," the associations stated.

Related Links

U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Markup: H.R. 4674, College Affordability Act

https://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/hr-4674-college-affordability-act

Politico

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2019/10/29/house-committee-takes-up-democrats-higher-education-plan-781750

Politico

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2019/10/31/chicago-teachers-have-tentative-agreement-but-strike-continues-781885

 
Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Community Colleges
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Higher Education Act
Tags :
  • accountability
  • career and technical education
  • college completion
  • default
  • Federal relations
  • for-profit colleges
  • free college
  • pell grant
  • student loans
  • tuition free
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