CBO Releases Cost Estimate On House Reauthorization Bill

Abstract:

Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a cost estimate for the Higher Education Amendments of 2007 (HR 4137). The House Committee on Education and Labor unanimously approved HR 4137 last month. The legislation would reauthorize the Higher Education Act for the next five years. HR 4137 still needs to be brought before a full House vote and would then need to be conferenced with the Senate’s reauthorization bill before any reauthorization bill makes it to the president’s desk. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would increase discretionary Title IV costs by $88.5 billion from 2008 to 2012. CBO also estimates that HR 4137 would increase direct spending by $75 million in 2008 and decrease it by $27 million from 2008 to 2017.

The full article was originally published in NASFAA’s Today’s News on 12/20/07.