Oakland University
Monday, June 24, 2013

AASCU Update


*****ACTION ADVISORY*****
 
FY 2014 Appropriations

AASCU strongly urges you to contact your House members and urge them not to cut education funding.
The House Appropriations Committee passed proposed spending bills that would protect military and homeland security funding by making deep cuts in domestic programs.  House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), has proposed a $967 billion plan for 12 annual spending bills known as 302(b) allocations. This is $17 billion below the 1st round of spending cuts in March. The $121.8 billion allocated to the Labor, Education, Health, and Human Services budget would be the lowest level since 1998 when adjusted for inflation. Select cuts to popular higher education programs are:
  • Pell Grant Discretionary Fund-$4.2 Billion
  • Department of Education Discretionary Fund-$ 8 Billion
  • Federal Trio Programs-$148 Million
  • Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants-$130 Million

Student Loan Interest Rate
Yesterday, the United States Senate held two votes to prevent student loan interest rates from rising on July 1st. Under current law, interest rates on student loans affecting more than 7 million borrowers are set to double from 3.4  to 6.8 percent.  Both bills needed 60 votes to advance in the Senate. The Republican bill, S. 1003, introduced by Senator Tom Coburn(R-OK), would tie interest rates to the 10 year Treasury note plus 3.0 percent. This bill failed on a vote of 40-57. The Democratic proposal, S. 953  introduced by Senator Jack Reed(D-RI), would extend the current 3.4 percent interest rate for another two years. This bill also failed on a 51-46 vote. 

House Republicans passed a bill, H.R 1911 that would make student borrowing more expensive. The bill, would add more than $4 billion in borrowing costs to students by asking them to pay higher interest payments for their student loans.  

Find a comparison of various student loan interest rate plans here.

Based on our current information, it is very likely that there will not be agreement among the parties by July 1.  The President has signaled his intent to veto the House bill as it now stands.  It does not appear as if the two chambers are talking with each other, nor are there any serious discussions of which we might be aware to resolve the differences in the competing bills.

AASCU has not taken a formal position on either bill but will keep the membership informed of developments on Capitol Hill as these bills continue in the legislative process.  


H.R. 1949 The Improving Postsecondary Education for Student’s Act
During the debate on the student loan interest rate, the House of Representatives passed the Improving Postsecondary Education for Student’s Act (H.R. 1949). This bill would direct the Secretary of Education to convene an advisory committee on improving postsecondary education data. The committee would be comprised of 15 members and would have to include higher education stakeholders. The idea behind this bill is for the advisory committee to study the types of information the federal government should collect and report on institutions of higher education. A link to this bill can be found here. AASCU will be following this bill closely as it moves to the United States Senate.  


Immigration
Debate on S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, will occur on the Senate floor beginning Monday, June 10th. Senate debate is expected to last the entire month of June. Business groups have already secured an increase in the number of temporary H-1B visas for highly skilled workers from 80,000 a year to 205,000 per year along with new rules that would make it easier for employers to bring skilled foreign workers and their families to the United States. It is expected there will be heavy debate on many of the DREAM Act provisions, including provisions to provide federal financial aid to students directly affected by the DREAM Act.


Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
Both the Senate and the House introduced legislation intended to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee introduced Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013 (link). Stressed in this bill are student success and reforms of our nation’s education system. Senator Alexander, and Republican colleagues on the HELP Committee, introduced a parallel bill, Every Child Ready for College or Career Act, placing most of the testing burden of accountability on the states to test in grades 3 through 8, and in high school.  The House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN) introduced the Student Success Act (link) that is very much like the bill he introduced last year.  This bill is scheduled for Committee markup on Wednesday, June 19. Most notably, this bill would require state teacher evaluation systems. AASCU will need to review these bills and assess their impact on our institutions and our institution’s Teacher Education programs.



 

American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
5th Floor 1307 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone 202-293-7070 | Fax 202-296-5819 | www.aascu.org



Created by Claudia DiMercurio (dimercur@oakland.edu) on Monday, June 24, 2013
Modified by Claudia DiMercurio (dimercur@oakland.edu) on Monday, June 24, 2013
Article Start Date: Monday, June 24, 2013