Government Relations Archive

The National Association of Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has introduced a template that will allow colleges to make data available on areas such as graduation rates, academic programs, student demographics, campus life, admissions and financial aid awards.

The database emerged as a response to calls for transparency in the higher education system by the Department of Education and to provide alternatives to a federally-mandated system that was being considered by the secretary of education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

NAICU hopes the online tool will go live at the start of the coming academic year. The hope is that roughly 500 colleges (about half of NAICU’s membership) will sign on this fall since participation is voluntary.

Appropriations Subcommittee Blocks Accreditation Changes

A House appropriations subcommittee approved a bill that would finance most higher education programs for FY 2008 and would cut off funds for making changes to the accreditation process. The Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, has been hoping to make changes to the way colleges are accredited by using the department’s regulatory authority. The vote comes just one week after Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) warned in a floor speech that “Congress needs to legislate first. Then the Department can regulate.”

House Education and Labor Committee Passes the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007
On June 13, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the College Cost Reduction Act (H.R. 2669), which would boost college financial aid by about $18 billion over the next five years. The legislation pays for itself by reducing federal subsidies paid to lenders by $19 billion. The bill also includes $750 million in federal budget deficit reduction.

The College Cost Reduction Act would:

• Increase the maximum value of the Pell Grant scholarship by $500 over the next five years, to $5,200 by 2011.

• Cut interest rates in half on need-based student loans to 3.4 percent by 2012-13.

• Raise the amount that working students can earn without reducing their financial aid.

• Provide loan forgiveness to those who enter public service fields or who teach in the nation’s public schools.

• Lift the annual and aggregate limits on how much individual students can borrow from federal loan programs (to help decrease dependency on private loans.)

• Institute a system of “income-based repayment” for borrowers.

The legislation will be taken up next by the full House.

HEA Reauthorization and Budget Reconciliation Passed by the Senate HELP Committee

Senate Democrats introduced a budget reconciliation measure that was approved by the Senate education committee along with the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that would cut lender subsidies by more than $18 billion while reducing the federal deficit by almost $1 billion and increasing student aid by more than $17 billion. The House approved its budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 2669 – see notes above) a few weeks ago and the chairmen have until September to work out a compromise measure.

Like the House bill, the Senate bill would:

• Forgive the remaining debt of students who work in the public sector or who have been in income-contingent repayment for two decades or more.

• Cap the amount of money that students in income-contingent repayment must pay on their loans.

However, there are significant differences in the Senate and House bills that could complicate conference between the chambers. For example, the House bill provides more aid to low-income students through an increase in the Pell Grant, while the Senate would provide it through new “Promise” Grants to those students who are Pell-eligible.

The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act included a manager’s amendment which softened provisions in the bill that would have increased federal oversight of institutions’ transfer-of-credit policies. In addition, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) was expected to offer an amendment barring the Department of Education from making any changes to the accreditation system, but decided against it because he received a letter from Secretary Spellings assuring him that “she would hit pause and not move ahead until we legislate.”

The bill will also codify many of the reforms on the student loan front championed by New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo. Among other changes, the bill will expand eligibility for two new federal grants (Academic Competitiveness and Smart Grants); bar the secretary from establishing a national unit record database of students; and simplify the process of applying for financial aid.

Update on the U.S. Department of Education Accreditation Regulations

The U.S. Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking sessions on accreditation ended on Friday, June 1. Unfortunately, no consensus was reached, which means that the Department can propose whatever new regulations it may choose. It was reported that the Department’s federal negotiator said it would make every effort to use the input and ideas that were generated from the conversations in the development of the proposed regulations.

The Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions stood firm on the following five (5) principles:

• Any definition of educational outcomes or performance levels should be set by institutions, not by accreditors or the Department of Education.

• Performance should be evaluated by multiple indicators, not by “bright lines” using a single measure.

• Regional accreditation should assess performance at the institutional level, not the programmatic level.

• Comparisons of outcomes should be undertaken by institutions, where appropriate, and should not be mandated by the Department of Education or accreditors.

• Any new regulation should be able to be implemented without significant new burdens on institutions.

The draft regulations will be released in late June, a comment period will follow that will close in September, and final regulations should be published this coming November.

House Votes to Expand Study-Abroad Efforts

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported earlier this week that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that will help to increase the number of American students studying abroad. The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act (H.R. 1469) sets to create a foundation that would have the goal of sending one million American students abroad each year within the next decade. The bill authorizes Congress to spend $80 million annually on the foundation, which would distribute grants to students through colleges and universities and other study-abroad providers. A Senate version of the bill (S 991), co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), has already been referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate last year and never came up for a vote, but Senator Durbin’s staff said they hoped to see action on S 991 within a few weeks.

The Chronicle also reported that the State Department has proposed a new rule to allow American institutions to sponsor foreign students to work as interns in the U.S. for up to 12 months. The belief is that colleges would support this rule because it would help them to develop exchange programs with foreign institutions. Under the existing regulations, it is difficult for American colleges to sponsor foreign students as interns because there is no provision for that particular purpose. The State Department is accepting public comments on the proposed rule until early August.

Homeland Security Issues Troubling Regulation

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has reported that the Department of Homeland Security recently issued a regulation concerning chemical risk assessment requirements that could have unintended and adverse consequences on colleges and universities. It states that a chemical facility must determine whether it possesses any of 342 listed chemicals – and there is no threshold for 104 of the chemicals. If the facility contains these chemicals, it must complete a more detailed analysis to DHS to assess the relative risk. NAICU said that given the fact that colleges and universities will most likely possess some of the 342 chemicals, they will be subject to this rule, even though they already report hazardous chemicals through the EPA and OSHA. The higher education associations are urging DHS to give special consideration to colleges and universities since “they differ in significant ways” from true chemical facilities. NAICU reports that “so far, DHS has not been sympathetic to that argument.”

Congress Passes Budget Plan

Both Chambers of Congress recently passed the FY 2008 budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 21) which includes $9.5 billion more than the president’s budget for education. It is unclear how that funding will be divided between student aid and K-12 education until the education appropriations subcommittee tackles it this month.

Hearings on Campus Safety

Following the events at Virginia Tech, there was a hearing in the House Education and Labor Committee on best practices in campus security. Both Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon said they would not propose any new federal policy on campus security until they learned of the findings of the independent commission to examine the shootings appointed by Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine. They also made it clear that they are interested in how campuses will increase campus safety through the use of emergency communications technology and making comprehensive mental health services widely available. There was particular focus on the merits of using a threat assessment model on college campuses.