March 5, 2004

CSU OFFICE OF FEDERAL RELATIONS

VOL. 2, NO. 3  

Rep. McKeon to Drop Idea of Penalty for Tuition Increases

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness, announced on March 3rd that he will drop legislation he introduced last year that would penalize institutions of higher education that increase tuition and fees too quickly. The legislation, which had already been modified to exempt low-cost institutions such as the CSU, was widely unpopular with the higher education community. Rep. McKeon credited his decision to efforts by a number of institutions to hold the line on college costs. Meanwhile, Rep. McKeon is expected to introduce legislation in the near future that will reauthorize student loan and grant programs (Title IV of the Higher Education Act). This legislation will also likely contain amendments to other parts of the Act which were previously introduced but not yet acted upon within his subcommittee, including H.R. 3039, which increases outreach to disadvantaged students and minority serving institutions, and portions of H.R. 3311, the Affordability in Higher Education Act, which relate to providing better information on college costs.

White House Offers Proposals to Revamp Higher Education Act

• Clarify that student-aid applicants who have been convicted of drug-related offenses are ineligible for federal student aid only if the offenses were committed while they were attending college.

• Raise loan limits for college freshmen.

• Revise the formula that the government uses to distribute money for the three campus-based federal student-aid programs -- College Work-Study, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and Perkins Loans -- to ensure that those programs are serving the neediest students. Despite failed efforts in the past to overhaul the campus-based aid formula, the administration has decided to make that one of its top goals for reauthorization. While the president's budget request calls for redistributing the funds, it does not provide details of how it would do so.

• Eliminate a requirement that colleges provide 7 percent of their work-study funds to students performing community-service activities. In its place, the administration proposes a new set-aside program for community service, which would be paid for with 20 percent of the money that Congress provides to the work-study program each year.

The administration plans to release more reauthorization proposals in the coming weeks.

Earlier administration proposals outlined in the President's Budget can be found in the February 10th Federal Update.

More from the Chronicle (Subscription)»

Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing on Accreditation

On Thursday, February 26, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee) held a hearing entitled "Higher Education Accreditation: How Can The System Better Ensure Quality and Accountability." Accreditation by a regional or national accreditor recognized by the Secretary of Education is necessary for institutional participation in federal student aid programs. The purpose of the hearing was to examine issues surrounding accreditation, in order to determine if changes should be made during reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. More»

Senate HELP Committee to Hold Reauthorization Hearing on Workforce Training

On March 4, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act focusing on workforce training. Scheduled witnesses include Beth Buehlmann, former Director of the CSU Office of Federal Relations (and currently executive director, Center for Workforce Preparation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce). More from U.S. Senate»

GAO Report Says Limit on Aid for Distance Students May Do More Harm Than Good

A recently released report from the General Accounting Office suggests that Congress and the U.S. Department of Education may need to rethink the "50 per cent rule," which is intended to prevent financial-aid fraud in distance-education programs. The rule bars an institution from participating in such programs if at least half its students study online, or if more than half its courses are offered via distance learning. Noting that a pilot program run by the Department of Education has not found increased fraud rates in institutions that have been exempted from the law, the report says that the law may soon deny significant numbers of distance students access to federal aid. Still, the report calls for other steps to prevent fraud, and notes that eliminating the law would bring more students into federal aid programs, increasing their cost. GAO Report(.pdf)»

Report Questions Programs that Pay College Costs in Exchange for Job Pledges

A new report by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) questions the effectiveness of state and federal programs that cover the college costs of people who agree to work in certain occupations or underserved regions. The AIR report notes that programs that attempt to fill workforce shortages and ease college prices by "forgiving" or repaying college loans are increasingly popular politically, but that the jury is still out on their effectiveness. AIR Report (.doc)»