Roundup: Week of February 4 – February 8

House Approves Bill to Reauthorize Higher Education Act

[slideshow]In an overwhelming 354 to 58 vote, the House approved legislation on Thursday that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act for the next five years. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) would impose new restrictions on the relationships between student loan providers and colleges, increase transparency in the private student loan market, simplify the process of applying for financial aid, keep textbook costs down, increase aid for veterans and military families, and tackle rising tuition costs. The legislation would also significantly weaken a provision in the law that protects students from unscrupulous for-profit trade schools.

More than two dozen amendments were included in the legislation, among them a requirement that colleges report how much of their endowment is spent on reducing tuition costs. The House also passed a measure, sponsored by Reps. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Sue Myrick (R-NC) that would require colleges to provide prospective students with an estimate of how much they will be expected to pay in tuition and fees before they earn their degrees. The chamber, however, rejected an amendment, favored by the New America Foundation, that would have made private student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy.

White House Voices Opposition to HEA

While the Higher Education Act moved a step closer to its first reauthorization in a decade, the Bush administration issued a statement of administration policy on Wednesday saying that the president “strongly opposes” the House version of the bill. The administration’s main complaint was that the legislation allows colleges to set their own standards of quality for accreditation purposes — significantly weakening the already minimal authority of regional accreditors. In addition, the administration complained about the inclusion of four dozen “costly” and “duplicative” programs, and of a provision that rewards colleges that hold down their prices with extra federal grant aid. Despite these complaints, however, the president did issue a veto threat against the bill.

Ed Dept. to Allow 7 Lenders to Keep Receiving 9.5% Loan Payments

A little over a year after it halted payments on 9.5 percent loans, the Department of Education announced this week that it will provide subsidy payments at that level to seven lenders. The lenders — which include nonprofit lenders from states such as Mississippi, Texas, Montana, and Vermont — were chosen from a group of 15 that had agreed to an audit to prove they legitimately qualified for payments that guarantee a 9.5 percent return on student loans. The need for this scrutiny arose last year after an Inspector General’s report revealed that both student loan provider Nelnet and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) overcharged the department by millions of dollars. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings decided not to collect any of the estimated $278 million in overpayments by Nelnet and will receive no more than $15 million of the estimated $34 million that the department’s own Inspector General concluded that Pheaa had overcharged. One notable applicant who failed to pass the Department audit is the New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation, which was the first entity to be exposed for overcharging on its 9.5 loans.

NCAA Settles Antitrust Lawsuit

Thousands of student athletes will now be able to receive additional funds to cover college expenses, following the settlement of a multi-million dollar antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA last week. This ends a nearly 2-year-old lawsuit, White v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, brought by several Division I football and basketball players who claimed that the NCAA’s restriction that scholarships could only go toward tuition, books, housing and meals meant that they could not basic expenses such as health care and travel. Under the settlement, the NCAA will provide $218 million over six years to cover these additional expenses, with much of the money going toward the cost of tutoring and facilities. The high figure, however, is misleading — according to Inside Higher Ed, the NCAA will only provide $20 million in new funds, with only half that amount going to compensate students. Eligible parties, which include Division I football and men’s basketball players from 2002 to 2007, will be able to receive $500 to cover “career development” expenses and up to $2,500 a year for three years to cover additional education expenses.