aacrao-logo_transparent

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.
Capitol

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

Title IX Overhaul Complicates Negotiations to Update HEA

Feb 20, 2020, 13:06 PM
legacy id :
Summary : Trump administration's controversial new rules governing campus sexual assault and harassment will be a stumbling block toward reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.
Url :

The U.S. Education Department's forthcoming update to Title IX rules is expected to complicate negotiations to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, according to an aide to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate education committee. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to the release the final version of the controversial overhaul of rules governing how colleges handle allegations of campus sexual assault or harassment in the coming days, reported Inside Higher Ed.

"Senator Murray is a vocal opponent of Secretary DeVos' efforts to roll back Title IX protections for students and has made clear from the start of negotiations that any reauthorization of our country’s higher education laws must address the four key challenges of affordability, accountability, accessibility and campus safety," the aide to the Washington Democrat said Friday in a statement. "So the question is how much Senate Republicans will be willing to work with her in a serious way to protect students."

Senators Murray and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Senate education committee, have expressed optimism in recent days regarding the outlook of advancing at least a limited deal by the end of the year, ahead of Sen. Alexander's retirement, Inside Higher Ed reported. 

"That doesn't mean we're going to take that whole big act and reauthorize everything," Alexander said at a meeting of community college trustees on Tuesday. But he added, "I think we can make some progress."

Murray agreed in a discussion with Inside Higher Ed on Monday. "We have been making progress in the negotiations, and I think we can get that done."

However, the statement from Murray's aide illustrates a concern of many higher education lobbyists that the release of the final Title IX rule will be one of several key stumbling blocks that will make it harder to reach a deal on a broader reauthorization bill that would address a range of issues on student aid, according to Inside Higher Ed.

Related Link

Inside Higher Ed

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/18/title-ix-debate-complicates-push-higher-education-act-reauthorization

 
Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Campus Safety
  • Compliance and Reporting
  • Higher Education Act
Tags :
  • Access and Equity
  • accountability
  • education department
  • Federal Regulations
  • Federal relations
  • sexual assault
  • sexual misconduct
  • title ix
Related people