To: AASCU Presidents and Chancellors
From: Ed Elmendorf, Sr. Vice President for Government Relations
Re: Conferees Approve Higher Education Act
Date: July 30, 2008
Five years in the making, conferees for the reauthorization of Higher Education Act approved the bill's Conference Report. Final floor action in both the House and the Senate is expected Thursday, July 31. In the meantime, Congress has approved another short-term extension to ensure the reauthorized version clears the President's desk before the current law expires.
Congress has provided a summary of the bill, which is provided as an attachment link to this email. The 1,000-plus page bill includes several AASCU-supported and advocated provisions, including, among other provisions, year-round Pell grant, a State Maintenance of Effort provision, increased investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions, and new institutional programs- including an AASCU priority for a new grant program for rural colleges.
The bill also contains a significant number of new reporting requirements, which the higher education community has long expected- due in part to the time that has passed since the last reauthorization in 1998. Many of the new reporting requirements are in line with AASCU's Voluntary System of Accountability and AASCU worked with Congress to balance bipartisan Congressional calls for more accountability with reasonable institutional burden.
The final bill is more than 1,000 pages and with such a large bill, there are, of course, some provisions that are of concern to AASCU. A more detailed summary of those concerns, as well as provisions that AASCU supports, will be provided in the near future. AASCU sent a letter supportive of the bill's passage, which is provided as an attachment link to this email.