Senate HELP Committee Passes HEA Reauthorization and Reconciliation Bills With Little Dissent

Abstract:

In just under an hour of deliberations, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved both the Higher Education Act Reauthorization and the Budget Reconciliation bills by wide margins. The two bills passed with the addition of only three amendments, which would make substantial changes to the federal student aid programs by raising $22 billion over five years for need-based aid and at the same time cutting approximately $1 billion in spending. These increases and savings would come at the expense of student loan providers in the form of subsidy cuts.

The full article was originally published in NASFAA’s Today’s News on 6/21/07.