Government Relations Archive

On November 13, President Bush vetoed the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) because of overall concerns with spending levels. The bill would have provided the biggest increase ever in the Pell Grant.

On November 15, the House Education Committee released and approved a 747-page rewrite of higher education laws (which grew to 805 pages in the process.) It is possible that the bill could come up for final consideration on the House floor as early as next week.

According to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), below are the particularly troublesome provisions of the bill:

College Cost
The bill establishes a new Higher Education Price Index, and creates a federal Affordability Watch List for any college whose sticker price exceeds a federally prescribed price index.

Accreditation and Student Learning OutcomesAlthough the House bill (like the Senate) originally sided firmly with colleges on their authority to set their own standards for student learning, this issue was revisited when the committee adopted an amendment striking the protective language. Apparently, the for-profit and some regional accreditors felt there was some better alternative – despite the fact that months of discussion of the issue did not produce one. Now, the Secretary has yet another opportunity to put the federal government in the driver’s seat in this critical area.

Teacher Education
The bill requires virtually all colleges in the country to follow several federally-prescribed curriculum elements – including quantifiable goals in the production of teachers in certain fields, and in the program of study used by the college. This precedent of using a college’s participation in the federal student aid programs as a means of prescribing a curriculum in any field of study is extremely problematic.

Articulation Agreements
The bill calls for the development of statewide articulation agreements, using language that is unclear as to whether all institutions would be required to participate in these agreements. Many private institutions participate in voluntary articulation agreements. However, NAICU strongly oppose any federal effort to make colleges – particularly private colleges – subject to such agreements developed by the Secretary of Education and state governments.

Reporting
Ironically, while admonishing colleges for rising prices, this bill adds a significant number of costly reporting requirements – with no federal money to offset the expenses of these mandates. Extensive new reporting requirements are required in such areas as campus crime, campus emergency procedures, fire safety, missing students, textbooks, net price reporting in admission materials, file sharing, distance education, and receipt of gifts.

Last Dollar
The bill requires GEAR UP and three other new federal scholarship programs to be the last grants made in a student’s financial aid package. This means that institutional aid must be packaged before these additional dollars are awarded, complicating financial aid packaging. It also means federal program reviewers can oversee how a college is awarding its own aid.

NAICU said the bill does have many good components that include a thoughtful set of new disclosures and ethics rules in response to the recent student loan scandals and a sensible solution on the transfer of credit issue that provides students information on institution’s policies.