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AJCU Letter to Congress in Support of the Higher Education Opportunity Act

July 30, 2008

We would like to thank the House and Senate conferees for including the Education Disaster Loan in Title VIII of this bill. This program, the need for which became all too clear as a result of recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina, will benefit all colleges and universities who may face similar tragic circumstances in the face of future federally declared disasters.

One of the lessons that the New Orleans institutions have learned from Hurricane Katrina is that there is a tremendous need for addressing cash flow following a disaster. This will serve as a financial bridge for colleges and universities so that they may have the opportunity to recover at a faster pace while assisting their communities as well.
 
AJCU greatly appreciates that this bill retains existing federal student aid programs, authorizes increases for Pell grants up to $8,000 in FY14, and adds authority for year-round Pell grants. The preservation of all campus-based aid, while retaining the current campus-based aid formula, will allow more access for our nation's students.

In addition, this bill preserves the integrity of accreditation as a peer-review process, rejecting proposals that would have undermined collaboration between accreditors and institutions to foster better assessment or educational outcomes, as well as greater transparency for our constituents.

We also would like to acknowledge the changes made to the Teach Grant program, the need for which was discovered in the Department of Education Negotiated Rulemaking process. By creating a form explaining the program for students, and offering students who major in "high need academic study" the ability to teach in that field even if that discipline is no longer "high need", students will still have the opportunity to meet the Teach grant requirements. 

AJCU also appreciates the changes that were made to the Campus Security portion of the bill that calls for immediate notification should a security issue arise, unless such notification would exacerbate the situation. This will ensure that our institutions have the flexibility to respond to dangerous situations effectively, while taking into account on-the-ground circumstances that warrant unique responses. 

We are also grateful for the conferees' work in restructuring the Title VI gift reporting requirements which eliminated reporting domestic gifts to international centers while preserving the provision that requires reporting foreign gifts to international centers.

We share the concern of post-secondary institutions around the nation about the costs associated with the many new reporting requirements included in this legislation. All of our institutions share the concerns of the American people and the Congress about the affordability of higher education, and we are working to hold down costs while maintaining the quality of higher education. We fear that the new reporting requirements will create new administrative costs for the institutions.

We must express our concern specifically about the net tuition price calculator and future tuition calculators included in the conference report.  We fear that those mechanisms, as they are crafted, could serve to mislead families and students about what they can reasonably expect in terms of potential savings or tuition prices that are not established yet.

Again, on behalf of AJCU, thank you for bringing the bill to completion and ultimately for assuring that our nation's students remain the first priority. Please extend our gratitude to your hard working staff who worked with Cyndy Littlefield, our Director of Federal Relations. We look forward to continuing our good working relationship with you in the years to come.