Approved 27-20, the bill includes a token increase for the maximum Pell Grant and it raises the interest rate cap on student loans from 6.8% to 8.25%, ensuring the average middle class student would pay thousands of dollars more for a college education.

NEA helped to limit the federal funding made available to for-profits. As a result, they will have access only to funding through the Higher Ed Act. Funding for higher education institutions that serve blacks and Hispanics is protected in the bill. As originally drafted, the bill would have given for-profits access to all federal funding.

The original bill also sought to repeal the requirement that for-profit schools get at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than federal funding; while modified, the "90/10 rule" was retained. In a significant setback, the "50 percent rule," which excludes institutions that provide more than 50 percent of their coursework by distance education from receiving federal funding, was repealed.

from NEA

# posted by Jon Easton : 8:22 AM  0 comments