HEA: A Huge, Exacting Accountability Bill (Inside Higher Ed)

"If a bill's impact or importance were measured by its length or the amount of time Congress spent working on it, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 would be one for the ages," Inside Higher Ed reports. "At more than 1,150 pages, the bill is about 20 times longer than the Higher Education Act of 1965 that it modifies, creating 64 new programs and touching on issues as diverse as the availability of Pell Grants and illegal downloading of digital music and video. What counts is how much the measure does to fix the problems or improve the situation it is designed to address, and that, in many ways, cannot be meaningfully gauged until the bill has become law and had a chance to play out for a few years."

You can read the complete August 1, 2008 Inside Higher Ed article on-line.

Long-Overdue Higher-Education Bill Is Close to Becoming Law (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

"It took five years and 14 extensions, but Congress has finally cleared a bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the major law governing federal student aid," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "The bill, lawmakers said, would clean up conflicts of interest in the federal student-loan programs, make it easier for students to compare colleges on costs, simplify the process of applying for federal student aid, and generally make college more affordable. Not everyone is singing the bill's praises, however. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, while generally supportive of the bill, said it worried that its members wouldn't be able to meet the bill's new mandates by the start of the academic year."

You can read the complete August 1, 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education article on-line. A paid subscription may be required.

House Acts To Overhaul College Loan Regulations (The New York Times)

"Congress overwhelmingly approved an overhaul of the nation's higher education law on Thursday, adding dozens of provisions and programs to help families with soaring college costs," The New York Times reports. "The bill is an effort to keep college costs down through greater transparency - and perhaps shaming - without imposing price controls."

You can read the complete August 1, 2008 New York Times article on-line.

Congress Approves Student Loan Bill (Reuters)

"Legislation that seeks to protect college students from lending abuses while boosting student aid was approved by Congress on Thursday," Reuters reports. "Once signed into law by President George W. Bush, the bill would ban lenders and colleges from offering or accepting payments or gifts in exchange for making loans, a response to scandals uncovered last year involving kickback schemes and conflicts of interest between lenders and school officials."

You can read the complete July 31, 2008 Reuters article on-line.

Congress Passes College-Oversight Bill (The Wall Street Journal)

"Congress voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation that promises consumers greater transparency in the rising costs of college," The Wall Street Journal reports. "he bill aims to put pressure on colleges and universities to hold down costs by forcing them to provide more information that the Education Department, in turn, would make publicly available on its Web site. Student groups say they are pleased that the legislation includes consumer protections on everything from textbook sales to private student loans, a largely unregulated market that has more than tripled in the past five years to $17.1 billion."

You can read the complete August 1, 2008 Wall Street Journal article on-line. A paid subscription may be required.

Congress Approves Bill Aimed At Controlling College Costs (USA Today)

"A wide-ranging higher education bill designed to protect college students from aggressive lenders and rein in soaring tuitions won congressional approval Thursday," USA Today reports. "The passage marks the first time in a decade that Congress has reauthorized the main federal law overseeing higher education and the third time in less than a year that it passed legislation to make college more affordable."

You can read the complete July 31, 2008 USA Today article on-line.

Congress Tackles The Higher Ed Act (U.S. News & World Report)

"the Higher Education Opportunity Act is a product of seven years of negotiations, lobbying, and compromises," U.S. News & World Report reports. "As a result, even the most innocuous-seeming provisions contain seeds of controversy. The law would create dozens of new programs, including new scholarships and other benefits for veterans and their children, and allow students trying to speed up their degrees by taking summer school to collect financial aid year-round. Meanwhile, others criticized the bill for not spending enough money. "

You can read the complete July 31, 2008 U.S. News & World Report article on-line.

Higher education Bill Draws A Bead On Tuition Costs (The Christian Science Monitor)

"Within a year of the bill's passage, students and parents should be able to use online calculators to estimate what any given college would cost based on their income level and family situation," The Christian Science Monitor reports. "Since most students receive financial aid, it's important for families to see this net price, experts say, rather than simply compare based on the full-charge 'sticker price.' There's little agreement about how effective these new requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act will be, but many experts say they can't hurt."