House Committee Passes Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009

Today, the House Education and Labor Committee led by Chairman George Miller (D-CA) passed H.R. 3221, the “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009,” by a 30-17 vote. The bill eliminates the Federal Family Education Loan Program and originates all new federal student loans through the Direct Loan Program starting in 2010. In total, this conversion generates $87 billion in savings. While there were a number of amendments offered and debated, the intent of the bill and the funding levels for Pell Grants, community college modernization and President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative (no significant changes to the community college programs) were left unchanged.

The bill provides significant funding increases in two key areas:

• Investing $40 billion to increase the annual Pell Grant maximum to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2010, the maximum will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent; and
• Providing $9.5 billion for President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, with $2.5 billion in FY2011 for community college infrastructure and $7 billion (over ten years) for competitive grants to community colleges and states. The funding is broken down to three distinct programs:

1. 2.5 billion in FY2011 for grants to community colleges to modernize,
   renovate, and repair their facilities.
2. $6.3 billion over ten years for community college and state competitive
   grants. The first four years are geared towards community colleges and
   states. The remaining six years are targeted towards states. Prior
   to the markup, ACCT worked to include language within the state grant program
   stipulating that no less than 90% of funds to states be allocated to community
   colleges.
3. $700 million for competitive grants for national activities, including
   grants to develop free online training and courses.

Additionally, the funds other programs including:

• Providing $3 billion to bolster college access and completion support programs for students;
• Strengthening the Perkins Loan Program;
• Keeping interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012. These interest rates are currently set to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012;
• Simplifying the FAFSA form;
• Providing $2.5 billion for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions;
• Providing $8 billion for Early Learning Programs; and
• Providing $10 billion to pay down the federal deficit.

With the Committee process complete, the bill has been referred to the House Budget Committee. There is some discussion about bringing the bill to the floor next week. Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to consider its budget reconciliation bill in early September.

To see the letter of support for H.R. 3221 by ACCT and AACC, visit: http://www.acct.org/Final%20HR3221Support%20Letter.pdf

For more information visit: http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/07/legislation-to-make-landmark-i.shtml

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ACCT/AACC Joint Statement on H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009

Today, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) today issued the following official joint statement on H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.

Click here to read the statement. Read more!

House Appropriations Committee Passes Education Funding Bill

Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the FY2010 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill at $160.7 billion by voice vote. With Committee passage, the bill now heads to the House floor for consideration. It is expected that the bill will be considered this week or next week. The bill is $5.2 billion over last year’s funding level, but $52 million less than what President Obama requested.

The bill maintains the maximum Pell Grant at $4,860; combined with the mandatory funding of $690 for the Pell Grant program, this equals a $5,550 maximum. Also, the Career and Technical Education programs are level funded at $1.2 billion.

The Committee provides $130 million for the new Career Pathways Innovation Fund (formerly called the Community-Based Job Training Grant program). The allocation for this program is $5 million more than the FY2009 total. It appears that the Departments of Labor and Education will have a role in running this program. The Committee requires that $65 million be used for nursing programs. Additionally, the Committee is providing $50 million to prepare workers for careers in emerging green industries.

The Senate Subcommittee is expected to consider its version of the bill in the next couple of weeks.

For more information, visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml Read more!

Kanter and Oates Testify on Modernizing Workforce Investment Act

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety held a hearing on “Modernizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 to Help Workers and Employers Meet the Changing Demands of a Global Market.” Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter and Assistant Secretary of Labor, Employment and Training Administration Jane Oates testified before the Subcommittee and represented the Obama Administration.

Under Secretary Kanter noted that “the Departments of Education and Labor have been meeting and discussing ways to align programs, leverage resources, and ensure that youth receive the services and support they need, whether in school, out of school, academic, job training, or social services, or a combination of all of these. We intend to reach out to other federal partners, including the Department of Health and Human Services, in these efforts.”

There will be a number of changes to WIA in the upcoming reauthorization. Senators and witnesses noted the important role of community colleges within the workforce system.

• Under Secretary Kanter’s testimony can be found at: http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_07_16/Kanter.pdf
  

• Assistant Secretary Oates’s testimony can be found at: http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_07_16/Oates.pdf

Additional witnesses included:

• Clyde McQueen, Director, Full Employment Council, Inc., Kansas City, MO
• Michael Thurmond, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Labor, Atlanta, GA
• Rick Bender, President, The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Seattle, WA
• William Kiernan, Director, Institute for Community Inclusion, Boston, MA
• Mary Sarris, Executive Director, North Shore Workforce Investment Board, Salem, MA
• Kathy Cooper, Policy Associate, Office of Adult Literacy, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Olympia, WA
• Stephen Wing, Director of Workforce Initiatives, CVS Caremark, Twinsburg, OH
  

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Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009

Yesterday, Chairman George Miller (D-CA) introduced H.R. 3221, “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.” The eliminates the Federal Family Education Loan program and originates all new federal student loans through the Direct Loan program starting in 2010. In total, this conversion generates $87 billion in savings.

In turn, the bill provides significant funding increases for a number of programs, including:

• Investing $40 billion to increase the annual Pell Grant maximum to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2010, the maximum will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent;
• Providing $9.5 billion for community colleges, with $2.5 billion in FY2011 for community college infrastructure and $7 billion (over ten years) for competitive grants to community colleges and states;
• Providing $3 billion to bolster college access and completion support programs for students;
• Strengthening the Perkins Loan program;
• Keeping interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012. These interest rates are currently set to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012;
• Simplifying the FAFSA form;
• Providing $1.2 billion for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions;
• Providing $10 billion for Early Learning programs; and
• Providing $10 billion to pay down the federal deficit.

Most importantly for community colleges, the initiative is broken down to three distinct programs:

1. $2.5 billion in FY2011 for grants to community colleges to modernize, renovate, and repair their facilities.
2. $6.3 billion over ten years for the Community College Challenge Grant Program, which will provide competitive grants. The first four years are geared towards community colleges and states. The remaining six years are targeted towards states.
3. $700 million for competitive grants for national activities, including grants to develop free online training and courses.

ACCT is working with Chairman George Miller’s office to refine the legislation. The House Education and Labor Committee is expected to consider the bill next Tuesday. ACCT will provide updates as further information becomes available.

To see the full press release, visit: http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/07/chairman-miller-introduces-leg.shtml

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President Obama Announces Major Initiative for Community Colleges

Today, President Barack Obama visited Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan to make a “historic” announcement about community colleges.

President Obama stated, “...today I'm announcing the most significant down payment yet on reaching the goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation in the world. We're going to achieve this in the next 10 years. And it's called the American Graduation Initiative. It will reform and strengthen community colleges like this one from coast to coast so they get the resources that students and schools need -- and the results workers and businesses demand. Through this plan, we seek to help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade. Not since the passage of the original GI Bill and the work of President Truman's Commission on Higher Education -- which helped to double the number of community colleges and increase by seven-fold enrollment in those colleges -- have we taken such a historic step on behalf of community colleges in America.”

The programs in the American Graduation Initiative are comprised of four programs. The funding as proposed by the Administration is $12 billion over ten years. According to the White House’s fact sheet, the initiative will create:

• The Community College Challenge Fund: The Challenge Fund, $9 billion over ten years, will provide competitive grants to community colleges and states to build partnerships, expand course offerings, improve remedial and adult education, to innovate and expand proven reforms, and provide support services.
  
• The College Access and Completion Fund: The Completion Fund will support efforts to increase college graduation rates and close achievement gaps, including those at community colleges. The College Access and Completion Fund was proposed in the President’s FY2010 budget request at $2.5 billion over five years.
  
• A Fund for Community College Facilities: President Obama is proposing a new $2.5 billion fund to catalyze $10 billion in community college facility investments that will expand the colleges’ ability to meet employer and student needs. The resources could be used to pay the interest on bonds or other debt, seed capital campaigns, or create state revolving loan funds.
• The New Online Skills Laboratory: This program funded at $500 million over ten years will support grants to create new open-access online courses.
• The Departments of Defense, Education, and Labor will work together to make the courses freely available through one or more community colleges and the Defense Department’s distributed learning network, explore ways to award academic credit based upon achievement rather than class hours, and rigorously evaluate the results.
• The Administration is working with Congress to use the savings from the conversion of the Federal Family Loan Program to the Direct Loan program to support the American Graduation Initiative.

The House of Representatives and the Senate are using the budget reconciliation process to pass this bill. The House Education and Labor Committee is tentatively scheduled to markup a bill next week, which is expected to deal with the conversion and provide legislative language for the Initiative.

The Committee is expected to release its bill this week and ACCT will provide an update when we receive a draft of the bill.

To read the whole speech, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative-in-Warren-MI/

To read the White House’s fact sheet on the initiative, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Excerpts-of-the-Presidents-remarks-in-Warren-Michigan-and-fact-sheet-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative/

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House Subcommittee Passes Education Spending Bill

Today, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee passed its version of the FY2010 spending bill at $160.7 billion. The Subcommittee is providing $5.2 billion over last year’s funding level, but $52 million less than what the President requested. While each programmatic funding level was not disclosed, the Subcommittee did provide funding levels for key programs.

The bill maintains the maximum Pell Grant at $4,860; combined with the mandatory funding of $690 for the Pell Grant program, this equals a $5,550 maximum. Also, the Career and Adult Education funding is slated at $2 billion, or $72 million over FY2009. It is unclear how these funds are distributed amongst the various programs.

The Subcommittee provided $135 million for the new Career Pathways Innovation Fund (formerly called the Community-Based Job Training Grant program). The allocation for this program is $10 million more than the FY2009 total. It appears that the Departments of Labor and Education will have a role in running this program. Additionally, the Subcommittee is providing $50 million to prepare workers for careers in emerging green industries.

The next step will be for the House Appropriations Committee to consider the bill next week, with the full House considering the bill later this month. The Senate Subcommittee is expected to consider its version of the bill in the next couple of weeks.

For more information, visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml Read more!