FA

As you may know, Texas A&M is a FELP school so the legislation below would be a big change in how we administer finacial aid. We've informed our elected officials regarding the effects of the legislation--not working for or against, but "just the facts." See a teh July 15 blog entry below for the details.

The house committee responsible for the legislation acted yesterday (a nice summary from our friends at AAU):

The House Education and Labor Committee yesterday approved far-reaching higher education legislation (H.R. 2331) that would restructure the federal student loan program and funnel the savings over 10 years into a variety of higher education and K-12 programs, as well as deficit reduction.

The committee approved the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, introduced by Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA), by a vote of 30 to 17. The measure would eliminate the federally guaranteed private student loan program, add mandatory funding to the Pell Grant program without making it an entitlement, and reshape the Perkins Loan program.

The bill also would:

* provide new funding for community colleges and Historically Black and other minority-serving institutions,
* keep student loan interest rates low,
* make it easier for families to apply for financial aid,
* increase support for college access and degree-completion programs,
* provide funding for schools modernization, renovation and repair, and
* create an early learning challenge fund.

As the Administration has proposed, the Miller bill would close down the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program and move all new lending into the Direct Loan program at the Department of Education. This is estimated to generate $87 billion in savings over 10 years. Of these savings, $40 billion would be allocated to Pell Grants, with the rest supporting other initiatives in the bill, along with $10 billion in deficit reduction.

The Miller bill rejects the President’s proposal to make the Pell Grant program an entitlement; House and Senate appropriators would continue to set the Pell Grant maximum award each year. However, the bill would use mandatory funds to increase the maximum award automatically each year through 2019 by the Consumer Price Index plus one-percent, an increase which the Administration has requested. This would raise the Pell Grant maximum from $5,550 in 2010 to $6,900 in 2019.