In a largely partisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday aimed at reforming the nation's higher education system.
The bill, House Resolution 609, would reauthorize the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 — the law outlining all of the programs relating to higher education in the nation — as well as make additional reforms to financial aid and student rights.
Bill sponsors U.S. House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., lauded the legislation's 221-199 passage as a huge step forward for college students across the nation.
"[HR 609] opens the door of economic opportunity to even more Americans looking to attend college and achieve the American dream," Boehner said in a release. "Expanding college access to low- and middle-income students is a top Republican priority."
While the bill's backers maintain HR 609, also called the College Access and Opportunity Act, will improve the nation's higher education system by expanding access, opponents argue it does not go nearly as far as it should in its efforts.
While the legislation would increase the authorized maximum amount of Pell Grant awards to $6,000, opponents said such a meager increase of $200 above the current maximum of $5,800 is inadequate considering the ever-rising cost of tuition.
Jasmine Harris, legislative director for the United States Student Association, pointed to the $200 increase as misleading, as the maximum $6,000 figure only represents a suggested amount. Currently, the actual appropriated level of Pell Grants is only $4,050, she added.
"We view [the bill] as a missed opportunity to really create greater access to higher education for all students and to reverse the adverse effects of the budget reconciliation proposal," Harris said, referring to the Deficit Reduction Act signed by President Bush last month.
The Deficit Reduction Act, passed in largely partisan votes last year, made billions of dollars of cuts to student financial aid and other entitlement programs.
As opponents, largely Democratic in party, continue to cite the lasting effects of the Deficit Reduction Act, they view the College Access and Opportunity Act as only adding insult to injury.
According to University of Wisconsin financial aid department director Susan Fischer, there are worries circulating the legislation could further deny access to low-income students.
The bill, she and Harris said, would offer Pell Grant Plus awards to students who meet certain academic requirements — a possibility that directly violates Pell Grants' original intention to help students based only on their financial need.
"To put even greater stipulations on the federal aid means that, unfortunately, many lower-income students will not be able to access schools," Harris said.
Republican supporters, however, view Democratic dissent as only partisan politics at its worst.
"It's unfortunate that Democrat leaders would use strong-arm tactics to badger their members into opposing these common-sense reforms because election-year politics is more important," Boehner said in a press release.
In addition to reforming the student financial-aid program, HR 609 would establish an "Academic Bill of Rights" to safeguard students' personal liberties on campus.
Supporters of an Academic Bill of Rights defend its necessity by pointing to controversy that arose last fall when UW-Eau Claire revealed it had banned resident assistant-led Bible studies — a policy which was later changed.
The U.S. Senate must pass its own version of HR 609 before the two bills can be reviewed by a conference committee to reconcile the differences and pass a single bill. Thereafter, the bill must receive approval by both houses before it is forwarded to the president.
