"Congress may be able to finish work this week on a long-awaited bill to renew the Higher Education Act after legislators reached agreement late last week on one of the key remaining obstacles," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "The House education committee released a statement Friday afternoon saying it is 'likely' that House and Senate negotiators will convene a formal conference this week to endorse a final compromise version of the bill, which would reauthorize the major law that governs student aid. An update to the law is already five years overdue. If the conference committee does approve a bill, the full House and the Senate would then be expected to schedule final votes on the legislation and send it to the president before Congress's August recess begins next week."