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Category: Student Aid

Labor-HHS-Ed Passes Senate Appropriations

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This week the Senate Committee on Appropriations took action on the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations measure.  Most notably, the measure provides a $2 billion bump for the National Institutes of Health and restores year-round Pell Grants. 

National Institutes of Health is funded at $34 billion in the proposal, a 6.3% increase above FY2016. This includes:

  • $300 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative, an increase of $100 million;
  • $1.39 billion for Alzheimer’s disease research, an increase of $400 million;
  • $250 million, an increase of $100 million, for the BRAIN Initiative to map the human brain;
  • $333.4 million, an increase of $12.5 million, for the Institutional Development Award;
  • $463 million, an increase of $50 million, to Combat Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria;
  • $297.3 million for Title VII Health Professions, a 13.3 percent increase above the FY 2016 level.

Notably, the measure would restore the year-round Pell Grant, benefitting an estimated one million students. The reinstated year-round Pell program is modeled after the program included in S. 1062, the “Year-Round Pell Grant Restoration Act,” which does not have a minimum credit requirement or acceleration clause for eligibility.The bill would also raise the maximum Pell Grant award from $5,815 to $5,935. In addition, the provision would provide level funding year-over-year for Federal Work Study at $990 million, TRIO at $900 million, and GEAR UP at $323 million. Title VI International Education is funded at $67 million, which is a $5 million cut to the Fulbright Hayes program and level funding for the domestic programs.

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.

House Committee Moves on Student Loan Fix

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Today, the House Education and the Workforce Committee marked up and two measures on to improve college costs and data transparency. The committee modestly amended and approved HR 1911, the Smarter Solutions for Students Act by a vote of 24-13, which ran largely along party lines. The amended HR 1911 would peg interest rates on all federal student loans, except Perkins loans, to the 10-year Treasury note rate plus 2.5 percentage points for undergraduate loans with a cap of 8.5 percent and plus 4.5 percentage points for graduate loans with a cap of 10.5 percent. Interest rates would be calculated and reset yearly.

The committee also marked up and approved HR 1949, the Improving Postsecondary Education Data Act for Students (IPEDS Act). The legislation would create a committee under the Department of Education to conduct a study on the factors students and families want, need, and already consider when choosing a higher education institution. This committee has a year to issue recommendations to assist congressional efforts to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

The Office of Federal Relations is closely tracking this legislation and continues to work on this issue.

For more information on HR 1911, the Smarter Solutions for Students Act.

For more information on HR 1949, the IPEDS Act.

Charting the student loan interest rate proposals

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As the Office of Federal Relations continues to track the proposals and progress made on legislation affecting the student loan interest rate, below is a chart highlighting the proposals to date and major proposals.

Options continue to multiply as the July 1 deadline raising the 3.4 percent interest rate to 6.4 percent is quickly approaching. Soon, colleges will begin originating loans for the fall semester not long afterward. Congressional insiders predict that if the rate is allowed to double, Congressional Republicans will likely lose their appetite for addressing the issue because students will not feel the impact immediately.

The many options, and the apparent disagreement among Senate Democrats and the White House, mean that the fate of any successful bill may rest on the House’s ability to pass a measure that will then be amended in the Senate. Further, it puts the Obama administration in the unusual position of being allied most closely with Congressional Republicans, making the some of the most unusual bedfellows.

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