Reauthorization 2004
Now is the Time to Get Involved!
Although Congress is unlikely to pass the Higher Education Amendments of 2004 for another 29 months, many in Washington are already developing their reauthorization agendas, so the process is already well under way.
Decisions made in 2004 will govern federal student financial aid through 2010. This means the upcoming reauthorization will have an effect on:
- More than 1.3 million present day fourth through ninth graders in the Rocky Mountain states who will reach college age between 2004 and 2010;
- Our ability to meet the nation's need for a net gain of 12 million college educated workers by 2020 (current estimates predict a net gain of only three million such workers);
- Whether American higher education will become, in the words of the New York Times, "mainly the preserve of a well-heeled elite."
- How we administer the Title IV programs for the remainder of this decade; and
- How our institutions will teach, and whether some of them will survive.
Many factors will influence reauthorization. Which party will control of the next Congress? How will the 2004 election, which is likely to occur within 60 days of when Congress delivers a higher education bill, effect that legislation? With education running second only to national security in national polls, will "No College Student Left Behind" be the President's motto?
The government's financial condition will also have an important impact. Some observers worry that Washington's willingness to authorize significant new Title IV appropriations in 2004 will hinge largely on the size of federal budget deficits between now and then.
It is difficult to predict major reauthorization issues in such a volatile environment, but a few leading topics are emerging:
- How to boost higher education access for low-income Americans?
- How to enhance persistence and graduation rates among student aid recipients?
- Under what circumstances should distance education and lifelong learning be funded through Title IV?
- How can the Title IV programs be made more modern and efficient?
- Are educational debt burdens too heavy, and what should be done to help students better manage their debts?
- Can, or should, Congress do something to help keep college costs in check?
- Should the PBO be more closely integrated with the rest of the Department of ducation (ED)?
Opportunities abound for RMASFAA members to get involved. Two RMASFAA representatives -- Norm Finlinson of Brigham Young and Jack Taylor of the University of Kansas Medical Center - serve on NASFAA's reauthorization task force, and NASFAA is taking proposals by e-mail at reauth@nasfaa.org. ED is also seeking e-mail ideas from student aid professionals at HEA.2004@ed.gov.
Should you become active in reauthorization? Just remember what is at stake for our states and nation, then recall the words of Theodore Roosevelt, a one-time resident in what is now the RMASFAA region, "In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."
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