On Wednesday, the House Education & the Workforce Committee held a marathon markup for Rep. Virginia Foxx’s (R-NC) recently-released College Cost Reduction Act (H.R 6951). After nearly eight hours of partisan fireworks, the bill passed along a party-line vote.
Ahead of the markup, NAICU President Barbara Mistick sent a letter to the committee outlining concerns about the committee fast-tracking such a significant rewrite of the Higher Education Act (HEA), as well as views on some of the more significant aspects of the bill.
The College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA) is the House Republican’s attempt at reauthorizing the HEA. The bill would make significant changes to the higher education landscape, including overhauling the federal student loan system, capping total federal student aid to the median cost of a student’s program, eliminating the Parent and Grad PLUS loan programs, and establishing risk-sharing payments for institutions based on the non-payment – or federal forgiveness – of their former students’ loans, among other things.
While dozens of amendments offered by Democrats were voted down by Republicans, one, offered by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), passed. His amendment made several changes to the original text, such as removing the Pell Plus grant program, restoring the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program, adding the family farm and small businesses exemptions back into the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) calculation, and creating several new exceptions to the risk-sharing payment calculations to account for medical and dental residences, military service, and more.
Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) objected to the removal of the Pell Plus program, saying that it had been “the only real investment in the Pell Grant” in the entire bill. In addition, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) spoke about a letter written by NAICU member Tracy Espy, president of Mitchell College in Connecticut, that outlined many of the concerns of the independent college sector.
The day before the markup, Scott introduced six prior pieces of legislation and labelled them the Roadmap to College Student Success and promised that more bills would be added. Scott’s action signals a lack of bipartisanship on the Foxx bill, even if there is broader agreement on certain themes such as loan reform, a desire to do something about college cost, and a defense of the link between earnings and institutional accountability. Scott’s roadmap package includes bills that double the maximum Pell Grant, reform the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, provide free community college, ease college transitions for students with disabilities, and more.
It is unclear when or if the CCRA will be brought before the full House of Representatives for approval.