A bipartisan bill to fund the government through the end of September protects higher-education programs that are under threat from the 2018 White House budget proposal, setting the stage for a fight over appropriations before the end of the year.
The congressional budget agreement reached Sunday pares back total federal spending on education by $60 million, but upholds or increases funding for a series of higher-education programs aimed at low-income students. Though the agreement, which Congress will vote on early this week, only addresses appropriations for the next few months, it signals that lawmakers are unlikely to rubber-stamp the president’s deep budget cuts for fiscal 2018.
"This agreement is at once a confirmation of the institutional supremacy of Congress on budgetary issues and a serious bipartisan pushback against the administration’s rather extreme proposals," said Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "I can only assume that the 2018 budget will be similarly mainstream and constructive."
The budget deal expands the Pell Grant program for low-income college students by offering up to $2,960 — half of the maximum award — to recipients taking summer courses during the 2017-2018 academic year. That way, students can take a full load of courses year-round, earn a degree faster and avoid taking on a lot of student debt. An estimated 1 million students could benefit from an average of $1,650 in additional money.
In the lead-up to the White House budget release, lawmakers and higher-education advocates had hoped the Trump administration would set aside funding to help students take summer classes. Instead the White House budget maintains the current funding level for Pell grants and calls for the "cancellation" of $3.9 billion in the program’s reserves, money that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said should be used to provide grants for three semesters, instead of two. Trump proposed taking an additional $1.3 billion out of the reserve weeks after releasing his budget.
Read more at The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/01/congressional-budget-deal-wards-off-trumps-wish-list-of-higher-education-cuts/