Provost explains Higher Education Act

Rod Erickson

University Park, Pa. — The Higher Education Opportunity Act, originally passed in 1965, was reauthorized by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 14 following a political process The Chronicle of Higher Education said "took longer than a bachelor's degree" to complete. Today (Nov. 21), Executive Vice President and Provost Rodney Erickson summarized the new act for the Penn State Board of Trustees.
 
Erickson outlined new provisions for student financial aid, expanded federal reporting requirements, accreditation, teacher professional development and the authorization of new studies.
 
The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act follows on the heels of other related legislation passed last year, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. This legislation appropriated additional federal funds for student loan programs; cut interest rates on federally subsidized loans for undergraduates; reduced payments to lenders participating in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program; provided for loan repayment deferments and forgiveness for certain borrowers; set income-based repayment schedules; and provided additional funding for minority-serving institutions.
 
The Higher Education Opportunity Act builds on the 2007 act by authorizing the amounts for students receiving Pell Grants to be increased substantially, and by setting improvements to be made to the Pell Grant program for part-time and year-round students, Erickson said. Authorizing increases for Pell Grants is the first step — now Congress must appropriate the necessary additional funds to realize fully the benefits of the legislation for college students. The act also added an anti-lobbying provision and a code of conduct for institutions involved in student loans, as well as additional "truth-in-lending" provisions for private loan providers. Penn State has not been involved in any of the questionable practices that precipitated the conflict-of-interest provisions of the legislation.
 
Federal reporting requirements also have been expanded under the newly reauthorized act. "The act spells out a reporting scheme for the highest and lowest tuition rates, and net prices," Erickson said. "Institutions with the largest percentage increases must provide an explanation to the Secretary of Education, who will issue an annual Web-based report."
 
Other federal reporting requirements, most of which represent information that Penn State already collects and disseminates, include:
 
— providing a "tuition calculator" online, something that Penn State has had for several years. The University's tuition calculator is available at http://tuition.psu.edu/CostEstimate.asp online.
 
— reporting graduation rates by demographic category and type of student aid received;
 
— reporting information regarding campus emergency notification systems;
 
— certification of peer-to-peer file-sharing policies and plans;
 
— reporting on employment obtained by graduates;
 
— new regulations for college book publishers and bookstores; and
 
— making transfer and articulation policies and practices publicly available.
 
The act also includes provisions designed for greater transparency by accrediting bodies. It reconstituted an existing national committee to advise the Secretary of Education regarding the recognition of accrediting organizations, and also set forth 10 standards by which institutions and accrediting bodies must assess student achievement.

"The act even includes a section stating that institutions must ensure that a student registered for a distance education program is the student completing the work," said Erickson.
 
In the area of teacher and professional development, the act expands and revises existing grant programs and adds new ones to improve teacher training. "It requires institutions to establish goals for educating more teachers in high-need fields, and requires a report of pass rates on licensure and certification exams to the state for public accountability purposes," said Erickson.
 
The Higher Education Act also authorizes new studies, Erickson told the board. Among other things, the act seeks:
 
— an analysis of the amounts and uses of university endowments;
 
— the impacts of federal regulations on costs of education;
 
— the identification of racial, ethnic, and/or gender bias in standardized admission tests; and
 
— a survey of student aid recipients to determine the impact of college costs on students’ choice of institution, major and post-graduation plans.
 
Now that the act has been passed, the next steps, according to Erickson, are negotiated rulemaking and implementation.

"Of course, many of those steps will be taken under a new administration, and we'll have to wait and see what the implications of that may be," Erickson said.