January 11, 2011
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (former Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush) is quoted in today’s Congressional Quarterly as stating that cuts to the Pell Grant program, along with the rest of the domestic discretionary budget, are on the table as Congress now attempts to reduce spending through the FY11 and FY12 appropriations processes. In… Read More
December 20, 2010
On Friday Congress passed an altered version of the existing Post 9/11 GI Bill, which is designed to address issues that arose with the previous legislation. The updated bill will: - provide full tuition for those attending a public school in their home state and up to $17,500 in tuition payments for those attending private schools… Read More
December 15, 2010
**2nd Update 12/17** The packaged has been fully approved by Congress and is heading to the President’s desk, where it will be signed this afternoon. ** Update ** Today, by a vote of 81-19, the Senate voted to pass the much discussed tax-extenders package. The bill now goes to the House for a vote. The $893 billion… Read More
December 9, 2010
The House passed its version of the DREAM Act late Wednesday, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who graduate from college or serve in the military. The Senate today decided to kill its own version of the bill – most likely because of the expectation that it would not receive enough… Read More
November 12, 2010
Education Secretary Arne Duncan released this week the Department’s plan for transforming American education through technology, a process that would create an engaging, state-of-the-art, cradle-to-college school system nationwide. The National Education Technology Plan was written and refined over a year and a half by leading education researchers, with input from the public, industry officials, and… Read More
November 4, 2010
The mid-term congressional elections that took place on Tuesday, resulting in a Republican House majority and diminished Democratic Senate majority, will have a significant impact on issues of concern to the higher education community (FY11 appropriations, DREAM Act, COMPETES Act, tax policy) that were previously slated for consideration during the coming “lame-duck” session. The current… Read More
September 22, 2010
The DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants who attend college or the military and was rolled into the Senate’s defense authorization bill, failed to pass a crucial vote yesterday. Requiring 60 votes to pass, the motion failed by a vote of 56 to 43. Because the motion did not pass,… Read More
September 15, 2010
After reporting on this site yesterday that the DREAM Act was all but dead for this year, the Senate Majority Leader announced that they will try to pass this measure that would grant citizenship to young adults in the country illegally. Senate leadership hopes to attach the DREAM Act to the FY11 defense authorization bill, which is… Read More
August 25, 2010
The Department of Education is seeking comments, due September 7th, on department-wide priorities that will be used in the awarding of competitive grants. The Department states that priority areas are proposed to focus federal financial assistance on expanding the number of programs and projects department-wide that support activities in areas of greatest educational need. The… Read More
August 24, 2010
Douglas Clapp, Clerk for the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, visited the University of Washington on August 12, 2010. As Clerk, Mr. Clapp is the chief of staff for the influential subcommittee that controls the purse strings for federal energy and water related funding. Pictured is UW Chemical Engineering Ph.D. student Ikechukwu Nwaneshiudu… Read More
