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Higher Ed Dive
House passes relief package that would send $40B to colleges
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Feb. 27, 2021
Dive Brief:
The U.S. House of Representatives early Saturday morning approved
another massive coronavirus rescue package, which would send about $40
billion in direct aid to colleges and universities. The 219-212 vote
was mostly along party lines.
Like previous relief measures, institutions must use a portion of their
allocation to provide emergency grants to students disadvantaged by the
pandemic.
The $1.9 trillion bill heads to the Senate, where lawmakers will
consider and likely amend it, before sending that version to the House
for another vote.
Dive Insight:
The bill that passed Friday is largely unchanged from Biden's initial
proposal, though it added more direct aid for colleges and enabled
private nonprofit institutions to receive funding, which the first
proposal did not allow. The education portions of the bill were also
not substantially altered in House committees.
The new round of relief money will be distributed through the same
formula as the last major spending bill. It factors in headcount and
full-time equivalent enrollment, enabling colleges with more part-time
students to benefit.
Institutions that accept their piece of funding must use it in part to
implement "evidence-based practices" to mitigate the virus's spread, as
well as conduct outreach to financial aid applicants about the
opportunity to have their aid awards adjusted if they experienced new
financial hardships.
The U.S. Department of Education has reminded colleges several times of
their flexibility to adjust parts of a student's financial aid
application to better reflect their circumstances.
The measure alters the 90/10 rule, which bars for-profit institutions
from receiving more than 90% of their revenue from Title IV aid.
Military education benefits would now count in that calculation, though
they haven't historically.
Additionally, states that accept elementary and secondary education
relief could not disproportionately cut K-12 or postsecondary spending
in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
American Council on Education President Ted Mitchell urged the Senate
to quickly take up the legislation, in an emailed statement to Higher
Ed Dive. While the package is "vital and welcome assistance," Mitchell
said, ACE has identified "at least $97 billion in critical needs left
unaddressed" by the last emergency relief legislation, which was
approved in December.
Though Republicans have rejected the bill, deeming its price tag too
high, it is being shepherded through Congress using a legislative
process known as reconciliation. Lawmakers can use it to pass measures
in the Senate, which is narrowly divided, with a simple majority,
rather than the two-thirds vote that is typically required.
Read this and other stories at Higher Ed Dive
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