What Happens to Higher Education Funding When the Supercommittee Fails?

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the supercommittee), which is charged with finding ways to cut the budget deficit over 10 years by at least $1.2 trillion, looks set to miss its deadline. The Budget Control Act of 2011, the law that increased the debt ceiling and created the supercommittee, set November 23rd as the date by which the committee must vote on a deficit cutting bill. With two days to go, no such vote is expected to happen. What might become of federal education programs in the wake of a supercommittee failure?

Today the Washington Post highlighted key K-12 education programs that would see their fiscal year 2013 funding trimmed in the absence of a supercommittee compromise. But the article doesn’t mention federal programs for higher education. Make no mistake, higher education programs, like Pell Grants and student loans, would also be affected by a supercommittee failure.

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