House 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-CA, introduced H.R. 3086, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act. The bipartisan bill, introduced October 11, has gained 71 cosponsors. The bill would grant the Secretary of Education broad authority to waive Title IV student aid statutory and regulatory requirements for individuals, schools, lenders, and other participants in the student assistance process affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks or subsequent incidents. Similar authority was granted the Secretary of Education during the Desert Storm war.
The bill seeks to ensure that:
affected borrowers of federal student loans are not in a worse financial position,
administrative requirements on affected individuals are minimized without affecting the integrity of the programs,
current year income of affected individuals is used to determine need for purposes of financial assistance, and
institutions and organizations participating in the federal student aid programs that are affected by the attacks may receive temporary relief from certain administrative requirements.
The legislation gives the Secretary broad authority to waive Title IV statutory and/or regulatory requirements, but it is up to Secretary Paige to decide what modifications to make.
The legislation may be brought up for debate on the House floor as early as next week.
The actual bill is not yet available for posting, but the following are descriptive hyperlinks:
Statement in Congressional Record upon Introduction of H.R. 3086.
Press Release on H.R. 3086.
By Larry Zaglaniczny, NASFAA
Posted October 17, 2001 on the NASFAA Web Site www.nasfaa.org
Copyright 2001, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
Please submit questions or comments to ask@nasfaa.org
