As details of last week’s Senate appropriations bills are made public, the concerns lawmakers have regarding higher education are more evident.  The top news for colleges and universities is that the Senate bill proposes $10 million funding cuts to both the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs.  While the actual proposed funding cut is minimal the signal it sends to negotiators is damaging, especially when juxtaposed against the House proposal to eliminate both programs.  

Also available is legislative and report language that highlights the views of the committees on a variety of issues, from current hot topics to specific programmatic oversight. Legislative language is included with bill text, which is currently available for both the House and Senate bills.  Additionally, report language is available for the Senate version since the full Appropriations Committee has already approved the Senate bill.  The full House Appropriations Committee did not act before the August recess because of a political break down among House Republicans over spending cuts.  

The House legislative language prohibits federal funds from being used for three major policy activities at the Department of Education related to higher education: 1) promulgating rules under Title IX related to athletics; 2) forgiving student loan debt; and 3) implementing the proposed changes to the Income Driven Repayment plan. Once the full committee in the House considers the Labor-HHS-Education bill this fall, additional provisions are expected be included in its report accompanying the bill. 

The Senate’s report language contains many provisions related to the use of funds and the committee’s position on higher education topics. Highlights include: 

• FAFSA Family Farm Impact Study: The committee requests that the Department of Education conduct a study to understand the impact of including family farms as assets for the purpose of applying for federal student aid. This is a change to need analysis from the FAFSA Simplification Act that will go into effect July 1, 2024.  The inclusion of this language reflects the Senate’s concern that the new need analysis formula will reduce the amount of federal student aid farm families will receive. 
• Priority for Rural Areas: The committee encourages the Department to make rural applicants for federal grants a competitive priority to ensure additional support for such areas. Rural schools and colleges have gotten additional attention for federal funding as post-pandemic recovery has been more difficult in those areas. 
• Foreign Influence: The committee requests that the Department work with institutions of higher education to provide guidance and additional resources so institutions can be in compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act regarding reporting foreign gifts. The committee also wants to know about the presence of Confucius Institutes on college campuses. (There are currently four remaining on college campuses, down from about 125 less than five years ago.) This language reflects the ongoing interest in foreign influence on campus, and the ongoing confusion from the Department about proper reporting. 
• Student Aid Administration: In contrast to the House, the Senate provides additional funding for student aid administration, and notes the need for increased staff to implement the FAFSA Simplification Act and restart borrower repayments on student loans and other student aid servicing activities that could include student loan debt forgiveness.

The Senate bill also includes congressionally directed projects, also known as earmarks, that the House banned for the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee. There are dozens of earmarks for private, nonprofit colleges and universities in the Senate bill.  The list of Senate earmarks in higher education can be found starting on page 347 of the Senate Committee report.

Like the funding levels for programs, legislative and report language and earmarks go through the conference process and must be agreed to by both chambers before enactment. Some of the proposed provisions will likely not survive that process.    

The next steps will take place when Congress returns in September for a marathon session to meet the September 30 deadline to pass all funding bills before the fiscal year begins.