{ "id": "R45115", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R45115", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 585314, "date": "2018-02-22", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T21:46:05.396393", "title": "H.R. 4508, the PROSPER Act: Proposed Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act ", "summary": "During the 115th Congress, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce marked up and ordered reported with amendments the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform Act (PROSPER Act; H.R. 4508), which would provide for the comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA).\nH.R. 4508 would make numerous amendments to the HEA, many of which address six themes: (1) redesigning the federal approach to providing student aid; (2) modifying federal student aid rules; (3) eliminating or winding down programs; (4) revising the educational quality and financial accountability requirements applicable to institutions of higher education (IHEs); (5) amending public accountability, transparency, and consumer information requirements; and (6) establishing limits on the Secretary of Education\u2019s authority.\nH.R. 4508 would extend the authorization of many currently operating HEA programs through FY2024, repeal or wind down many HEA programs and activities, and make amendments to myriad HEA programs and activities. \nThe amendments proposed in H.R. 4508 signal an attempt to redesign the federal approach to providing student aid by transitioning toward the delivery of student aid through fewer programs. The bill would terminate or phase-out several programs (e.g., TEACH Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Direct Loans), establish a new Federal ONE Loan program, and eliminate programs that have not been funded in recent years or that have never been funded. By 2024, the Title IV federal student aid programs would include two grant programs (Pell Grants and Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants), the Federal ONE Loan program, and the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program. \nRegarding changes to student aid benefit levels and award rules, under H.R. 4508 a new Pell Grant bonus would be available to students who enroll for at least 30 credit hours per award year. In the Federal ONE Loan program, annual loan limits would be increased by $2,000 above what undergraduate students may borrow through the Direct Loan program, while firm loan limits would be established for graduate students and parent borrowers. Federal ONE Loans would be repaid according to a limited set of repayment plans, and fewer loan forgiveness benefits would be available compared with what is offered under the Direct Loan program. FWS funds would be awarded to institutions according to a restructured allocation formula. Need-based aid would be made available only to undergraduate students through the Pell Grant and FWS programs. All other federal student aid would be made available without regard to financial need. \nAside from changes to the types of aid available and to student aid benefit levels and award rules, other amendments proposed in H.R. 4508 include the following:\nchanges to rules for disbursing Title IV aid to recipients, which would include annual aid counseling for recipients and more-frequent, smaller disbursements;\nthe elimination or wind down of numerous programs supporting IHEs and programs they operate, which are authorized under the HEA and other higher education laws, including the Strengthening Institutions Program, programs to enhance teacher education and preparation (HEA Title II), and all of the programs in HEA Title VIII;\nchanges to HEA provisions designed to hold IHEs accountable for the educational programs they offer, including the repeal of the gainful employment regulations, the establishment of a programmatic loan repayment rate metric, and amendments to Department of Education recognition criteria for accrediting agencies that would require accreditors to examine student learning and other student outcomes relative to what should be expected from institutions or educational programs;\nadjustments to the fiscal accountability standards institutions must meet to participate in the HEA Title IV programs, including the repeal of the 90/10 Rule, which requires that at least 10% of institutional revenues come from sources other than HEA Title IV aid at proprietary schools;\namendments to institutional information gathering and reporting requirements, which are designed to generate information that can assist students in making college-going decisions; \nchanges to ED\u2019s administrative functions and the establishment of specified limitations on the Secretary\u2019s authority to promulgate regulations; \namendments to address campus safety and sexual violence issues at IHEs that would add specificity to procedures for institutional disciplinary actions that must be used by IHEs in alleged incidents of sexual violence and would require most domestic IHEs to administer campus climate surveys of attitudes on campus toward sexual assault; and\ncreation of a new competitive grant program to expand earn-and-learn programs developed by partnerships of employers and IHEs that would provide students with on-the-job training and accompanying for-credit classroom instruction.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45115", "sha1": "269da1e12707cc37e58328be7b7559f9ce50de98", "filename": "files/20180222_R45115_269da1e12707cc37e58328be7b7559f9ce50de98.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45115", "sha1": "210ca8f5cd5ab2fa998a4dce5aeeef40469615c9", "filename": "files/20180222_R45115_210ca8f5cd5ab2fa998a4dce5aeeef40469615c9.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4906, "name": "Postsecondary Education" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Domestic Social Policy", "Education Policy" ] }