Late last night, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released its version of the budget reconciliation bill as related to higher education. ACCT extends our thanks to the Senators who worked on this updated legislation and took careful consideration of the feedback from the higher education community.
Overall, the Senate proposal, which still saves at least $300 billion towards the President’s reconciliation goals, rejects the most harmful elements that our joint letter with AACC called out regarding the House reconciliation bill education subtitle.
These changes were made possible by the tireless effort of community college leaders nationwide who reached out to their Senators and shared the direct impact to their campuses and students. The Senate bill includes some version of all of the changes that we requested.
ACCT’s fact sheet offers a full summary of this legislation, but a few highlights include:
Removes House provisions to Pell eligibility changes that would decrease Pell awards, and make students enrolled less than half time Pell ineligible;
Maintains the inclusion of the Workforce Pell program;
Maintains increased funding of the Pell Grant program to offset the projected shortfall;
Removes House elimination of subsidized undergraduate student loans; and
Removes the House proposal that establishes risk sharing; replacing it instead with a version of the recommended accountability measure based on earnings by program and consequences only related to program eligibility for the loan program.
Next, the Senate must compile various drafts from several committees of jurisdiction into one proposal and pass its full bill. Then, the two chambers will need to resolve any differences between the two bills before it can go to the President for signature. ACCT asks our members who have been in touch with their Senate offices to reach out and extend thanks for improving the bill in the interest of our colleges and students. We would also like to thank you for encouraging your elected officials to make these changes.
As this process moves forward, we will continue our messaging to Congress that any final reconciliation bill with a higher education subtitle should have language reflecting the priorities of the Senate HELP committee and urge you to do the same when you communicate with your elected officials in both chambers.
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