The budget deal senators approved Friday morning would benefit two colleges in Kentucky, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. But because the Senate did not approve the deal until Friday, a government shutdown started. The House of Representatives approved the deal Friday as well, so the shutdown will only last hours and should be over by the start of the workday today.
The budget agreement exempts Berea College, a nonprofit Christian college, from a provision taxing private college endowments in the Republican tax plan passed in December.
The deal also grants the secretary of education added authority to waive sanctions on colleges with high student loan default rates. That provision will most likely affect Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, which for the past three years has skated close to the cutoff point for access to Title IV federal student aid.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/09/after-brief-government-shutdown-budget-deal-helps-kentucky-colleges