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Category: College Costs

Senate Subcommittee Passes FY 2017 Labor-H

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Today, the Senate appropriations subcommittee approved the first bipartisan Labor-H funding bill since Obamacare became law more than six years ago.

The Senate’s FY 2017 bill includes a $2 billion increase for NIH (the same as the FY 2016 increase), a near doubling of funding to fight the opioid epidemic to $261 million, and $7.1 billion for CDC – $76 million more than the White House requested. Additionally, the Pell grant program would be expanded allowing students to access Pell over the summer. The expansion would allow roughly a million students to receive a second grant to take a third semester of classes, usually in the summer, helping them to graduate sooner. The students would also be expected to graduate with less debt, as the average recipient would be expected to see $1,650 more in aid. Additionally, the Senate bill would allow students to receive the additional Pell Grant even if they only attended school part-time. In the Administration’s FY 2017 budget proposal, the White House proposed an expansion to summer Pell, but would limit year-round Pell only to full-time students. 

The legislation does not include any new restrictions on funding for the Affordable Care Act, which has been one of the key obstacles to a bipartisan funding bill in recent years. Additionally, the legislation also avoided cuts to Title X women’s health and family planning programs, which have been the source of partisan battles in recent years.

The full Senate Appropriations committee will mark up the legislation on Thursday morning.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation and will post as more information becomes available.

Congress Gets Back to Work for the Long Slog

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The House and Senate return to work this week in what will be the largest number of consecutive legislative days prior to the August Recess.  Both legislative bodies will push pause and briefly come together for a joint session to receive Indian Prime Minister Modi.

The Senate returns today to resume consideration on its FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was slightly detoured last week. The Senate Appropriations Committee to have full consideration of the FY 2017 Labor-H Appropriations bill this week — subcommittee will mark up Tuesday and full committee will consider Thursday. The Labor-H bill contains many of the issues that the higher education community is concerned about including student loans, Pell grants, Perkins, and NIH funding among others. The bill is currently in a close hold, but it is expected to expand the Pell grant program to become year round.

More information will be made available as soon as possible.

The House will return Wednesday to consider the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs appropriations bill as well as legislation to bailout Puerto Rico from its $70 billion in debt (for an island of under 3.5 million people). The island has defaulted three times, and its next big payout is due July 1. The Puerto Rico “bailout” has been very controversial on the House-side of the Hill. The territory has argued it simply needs leniency to restructure its current debt to reduce or delay payments.

Meanwhile, the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs bill could be the debut of the new House standard operating procedure of considering appropriations bills under a structured rule, rather than the traditional open rule. The traditional open rule having caused significant meltdown of the FY 2017 E&W bill before the break.

 

ED Unveils Pell Dual Enrollment Pilot Program

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The Department of Education unveiled its plan to allow dual enrollments in the Pell grant program today. The plan, which would take place in the 2016-2017 school year, would allow high school students, who are Pell-eligible, to pay for and enroll in college classes using Pell Grant funds.

At a cost of $20 million, this latest experimental site will benefit up to 10,000 low-income students who will be able to enroll in college coursework while still moving through high school. Dual enrollment and early college programs have been shown to boost high school grades and college persistence and graduation rates. However, most students cover the tuition out-of-pocket at nearly half of colleges that offer dual enrollment.

ED will publish a notice in the Federal Register next week inviting colleges, in partnership with public secondary schools or local education agencies, to apply to participate.

Read the Department of Ed’s blog post about the program here. 

Endowments Fall 2.4%

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Colleges saw significantly lower returns on their endowments in the 2015 fiscal year. The annual NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments found that 812 colleges returned an average of just 2.4 percent after fees, down from 15.5 percent in 2014 and the lowest return since the -0.3 percent reported for 2012. The long-term return was well below the median 7.5 percent most endowments report they need to earn to maintain purchasing power after spending, inflation and investment management costs, the report notes. Yet 78 percent of participating institutions spent more from their endowments this year, with a median increase of “a substantial 8.8 percent, well above inflation.”

Here is Inside Higher Ed’s take. 

Here is the study.