By Kritika Agarwal
Senate Republicans are still hoping to bring their version of the massive budget reconciliation bill to the floor for a vote before July 4. Republicans are attempting to pass the bill, which can contain changes only to mandatory spending programs as well as taxes, using a special parliamentary procedure that allows them to bypass the usual 60-vote threshold required to pass bills in the Senate. The massive bill includes major spending and policy changes in health care, social programs, taxes, and education.
The bill includes several provisions that would negatively affect higher education and research. Last week, AAU President Barbara R. Snyder sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) offering comments on provisions in the Senate version of the bill that would harm student access, student success, and university research.
“Congress should not enact provisions that reduce access to fields of study critical to advancing key national goals – including improving K-12 teaching, rural health care, and maintaining a strong STEM workforce and the scientific research necessary for the nation’s future success,” President Snyder wrote in her letter.
Specifically, President Snyder’s letter expressed concerns about the following proposals related to student aid in the bill that would:
- Limit annual student loan borrowing and cap borrowing to $100,000 for graduate students and to $200,000 for students in graduate professional programs.
- Eliminate several graduate student loan programs, including the Grad PLUS Loan program.
- Set new requirements for financial aid eligibility based on student earnings upon graduation.
The letter noted that the proposed changes to student loan programs would limit Americans’ access to several graduate and professional fields of study, including medicine and other areas of high national need, at institutions of their choosing.
“The new loan limits, combined with the elimination of the Grad PLUS program and increased limitations on loan forgiveness contained in the bill, will disincentivize students who otherwise would pursue careers essential to meeting national challenges (such as those in rural healthcare) due to the additional financial burden placed on them resulting from these provisions,” President Snyder wrote.
The letter also expressed opposition to proposals that would expand the endowment tax. President Snyder noted in her letter that the Senate’s extreme expansion of the endowment tax would impair higher education institutions’ ability to provide financial aid to students and to support scientific research. She urged the Senate to consider dropping the expansion from the final bill, or to substantially narrow it.
The letter also recommended removing proposals that would make significant cuts to Medicaid and that would remove legislative branch oversight of the executive branch.
Finally, the letter made note of some provisions in the bill that AAU supports, including one that would expand the charitable giving deduction and another that would allow up to $5,250 in student loan repayments provided by employers to employees to be tax-free. The letter also asked the Senate to eliminate the taxation of Pell Grant awards spent on non-tuition expenses such as room and board.
The letter also applauded the Senate’s decision to not eliminate the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) exemption that nonprofits receive for transportation benefits provided to employees and to maintain the non-public research income limitation exemption, which promotes research collaborations between industry and universities.
“In conclusion, while there are provisions in the bill we like, its negative provisions as currently written are overwhelmingly bad for student access to higher education and the research and education missions of our member institutions,” President Snyder wrote, adding: “If these provisions are not removed or significantly improved in accordance with our recommendations … AAU would urge senators to oppose the bill when it is considered on the Senate floor.”
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.