By Kritika Agarwal
On April 29, the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced its 103-page reconciliation bill, the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan, on a 21-14 party-line vote, only 24 hours after releasing the bill text.
The bill makes sweeping changes to federal student aid and loan programs in order to find $330 billion or more to pay for President Trump’s proposed tax cuts. It proposes many policies that would negatively affect students’ ability to access an affordable college education and that would harm institutions’ ability to enroll low-income students. Some of these policies would:
- Require colleges and universities to pay the unpaid interest and principal on certain federal student loans back to the federal government.
As AAU President Barbara R. Snyder wrote last year, when these provisions were first introduced in the College Cost Reduction Act, “These ‘risk-sharing’ provisions would impact students from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities who have historically had a more challenging time with repayments, subsequently discouraging institutions of higher education from enrolling a high number of low-income and first-generation students.” While AAU members would most likely ensure that these students are able to continue accessing our schools, she noted, other institutions may not have the resources to do so.
- Set loan borrowing limits to $50,000 for undergraduate students, $100,000 for graduate students, and $150,000 for students in graduate professional programs.
These arbitrary thresholds would restrict students’ ability to pursue their choice of education, especially in fields such as medicine, public health, counseling and social work at an institution of their choice. They would also unfairly limit choices for low-income students.
- Limit Parent PLUS loans and eliminate Grad PLUS loans. Restricting and eliminating PLUS loans will make it harder for graduate students and families, who may not otherwise be eligible to receive federal loans, to access higher education.
- Require students to be registered for at least 15 credit hours per semester in order to be eligible to receive the maximum Pell Grant award and make changes to the eligibility requirements for Pell Grants for less-than-half-time students. As AAU noted in its statement opposing the bill, “This provision will harm low-income students who may also be juggling the responsibilities of employment, family, or dealing with other complicated life circumstances.”
AAU also noted in its statement that, “while it is a worthwhile goal to reduce federal spending, this should not be done on the backs of the very students who are our nation’s future.”
In addition to the statement, AAU joined a letter led by the American Council on Education expressing strong concerns about the bill. The letter emphasized that “the overwhelming majority of provisions in the bill would reduce student aid to low-income students and would impose onerous financial penalties on institutions, particularly those least able to meet them.”
The bill now heads to the House Budget Committee, where it will be inserted into an omnibus package that will be brought to the House floor for a vote.
Kritika Agarwal is senior editorial officer at AAU.