Congressional leaders agreed Tuesday on a spending bill that would avoid a government shutdown and provide modest increases to student aid programs and scientific research.
The compromise deal, which would fund most of the federal government until next October, would also restore a pathway to student aid for students who do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent, like a GED.
The bill would fund almost all of the federal government through the end of next September, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security, which would be funded only temporarily as Congressional Republicans seek ways to block President Obama's executive actions on immigration.
The federal government has been operating since October 1 on a stop-gap funding measure, which expires at midnight on Thursday. Congressional leaders indicated that they may pass another temporary funding bill to keep the government running into the weekend as the House and Senate rush to hold votes on the larger compromise legislation.
Among the more significant higher education policy changes in the bill is the partial restoration of the "ability to benefit" program. The legislation would allow students without a high school diploma to get federal student aid as long as they are enrolled in career pathway programs at a community college. Advocates for community colleges and low-income students have been pushing to restore that pathway to aid since Congress eliminated it in 2012.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/10/congressional-deal-spending-would-modestly-boost-student-aid-and-research-restore