After months of contentious negotiations about spending levels, and six months after the beginning of the fiscal year, Congress finally completed the FY 2024 funding bills without the drastic cuts proposed earlier in the process. Ultimately, the need for bipartisan votes to pass the spending bills in both chambers lead to compromises on deep cuts.
Overall funding for the Department of Education is one percent lower than last year while the federal student aid programs were level funded. For student aid, this means the Pell Grant maximum for award year 2024-25 will remain at $7,395, and funding for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) remains at $910 million and Federal Work-Study (FWS) remains at $1.23 billion. Finalizing funding for these three programs was critical to providing a semblance of relief for financial aid offices that are struggling due to the delayed FAFSA implementation.
The elements of the final bill are a stark contrast to the deep cuts proposed by the House last summer, which would have eliminated funding for the SEOG and FWS programs, and the $10 million in cuts to the same programs proposed by the Senate.
Final funding at last year’s level is also maintained for the TRIO, GEAR UP, and Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, which round out the programs that support low-income students.
While the House did not accept requests for congressionally directed projects in its version of the education bill, the Senate did, which resulted in the final bill including over $202 million awarded to colleges and universities for projects across the country.
The Titles III and V programs that fund Strengthening Institutions programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and other minority-serving institutions were all funded at last year’s levels, except for a $10 million reduction to the Strengthening Institutions, Title III-Part A program. This program funds support for institutions that serve low-income students with high Pell Grant enrollment without a minority-serving designation.
Other higher education programs, including Teacher Quality Partnerships, Child Care Access Means Parents in School, and International Education, were also level funded.
Competitive grant programs important to helping institutions serve their students were also funded through the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). These include continued competitive grant funding for Basic Needs Grants, Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success Programs, Open Textbook, Postsecondary Student Success Grants, and HBCU/TCU/MSI Research and Development Infrastructure grants.