Over the past couple of weeks State and Regional members have been working hand in hand with the AACRAO Government Relations office here in Washington, DC, to ensure that Members of Congress hear their voice on the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER Act), also known as the House version of the Higher Education Reauthorization (HEA) Act.
As a result of this engagement, 236 Members of Congress, who represent 25 States and the District of Columbia and have a total of 910 schools within their Districts have heard from AACRAO State and Regional members. Specifically, the following State and Regionals sent letters to their Representatives:
- The Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (PACRAO)
- Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MACRAO)
- Kentucky Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (KACRAO)
- Illinois Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (IACRAO)
- Carolinas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (CACRAO)
- Indiana Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (IACRAO)
- Middle States Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MSACRAO)
- Rocky Mountain Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (RMACRAO)
The bill still does not have a date to be voted upon by the full House of Representatives. However, the Higher Education community has started to express their concerns about the bill, most notably the impact to student financial aid and the score that came back from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) where it’s estimated that, in its current form, the bill would reduce federal student loan programs by $14.6 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
Here are some articles about these two points:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/07/higher-ed-groups-criticize-house-gops-financial-aid-bill-lawmakers-corral-support
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/07/cbo-house-bill-would-reduce-spending-146b
AACRAO will be also look share our thoughts with all 435 members of the House of Representatives leading up to the House vote.
Senate
In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee has held several hearings since the beginning of the year and Chairman Alexander has requested community input on an Accountability White Paper. Here is a link to AACRAO's comments to the Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray.
https://www.aacrao.org/docs/default-source/statements-and-letters/aacrao-comments-on-higher-education-accountability-measures.pdf?sfvrsn=2de981a0_0
Similarly, the Chair asked for community input on areas to be addressed during the HEA reauthorization. Here is a link to AACRAO’s comments to the Chair and Ranking Member.
http://old.aacrao.org/docs/default-source/Advocacy1/SignOn-Letters/aacrao-comments-to-senate-education-committee-on-higher-education-act-reauthorization.pdf?sfvrsn=0