How Republican and Democratic Wish Lists on Higher Education Stack Up

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Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday introduced their proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the main legislation governing federal higher-education policy. Their bill, called the Aim Higher Act, presents a stark contrast to the Republican alternative, the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity Through Education Reform Act, or the Prosper Act, which was unveiled last year and currently awaits action on the House floor.

Legislators in both parties agree that the higher-education system is flawed. Access to affordable four-year degrees is limited, and students struggle with loan debt.

The two bills suggest changes in several of the same programs, including simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, holding colleges accountable to their goals and their students’ educational outcomes, and enhancing access for more financially vulnerable students. But how the bills would go about making those changes differs greatly.

Neither party’s proposal is likely to become law, especially in an election year with many higher legislative priorities, so the long-delayed reauthorization of the law might be years away. Here’s how the two parties’ wish lists stack up, based on their respective bill summaries.

Simplifying the Fafsa

Both bills would simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the Fafsa, but would do so in different ways.

The Aim Higher Act would shorten the application and place students in one of three categories based on “the complexity” of their finances. Under the Democratic bill, students who fall in the lowest income category would automatically qualify for a full Pell Grant. Students who rely on the Pell Grant would have to file the application only once during their time in college.

The Prosper Act would establish a “maximum income threshold” for an applicant to qualify for a simplified Fafsa, called the “simplified needs test.” The proposed threshold is intended to make the application process faster and simpler, to encourage more students in middle-class families to submit Fafsas. The Republican bill also would allow applicants to use income data from two years earlier when filing, and would give applicants the option of using a mobile app to file the form.

Student Loans and Affordability

The Prosper Act proposes “streamlining” the many federal student-aid programs by condensing them into three areas: a grant program, a loan program, and a work-study program. The plan focuses on the Pell Grant and would eliminate two other grant programs: the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, designed for students with extraordinary financial needs, and the Teach Grant, which provides aid to would-be teachers in return for a commitment to work in a high-need school.

The Aim Higher Act proposes updates in all three major federal grant programs, including increasing the maximum Pell Grant award (by a modest $500), expanding the reach of the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and other grants, and preventing any grant awards from being converted to loans.

The Prosper Act would consolidate six existing federal loan programs into three, with caps and limitations placed on each to ensure “responsible lending.” In contrast, the Aim Higher Act would simplify the process for students to take out loans by reducing fees, improving loan counseling, and simplifying repayment.

Prosper would also eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives public servants’ loan debt after 10 years of repayment. Aim Higher, however, would protect and expand the program.

Holding Colleges Accountable

The Prosper Act would change how colleges’ success is measured by turning accreditors’ attention from scrutinizing colleges under 10 existing standards to reviewing their students’ outcomes.

Prosper would also require accreditors to develop a system, independent of the U.S. Education Department, that identifies accredited programs or institutions facing challenges to accomplishing their educational-outcome and student-learning goals.

The Aim Higher Act would shift Title IV compliance reviews from accreditors to the Department of Education. Under the bill, state authorities would be responsible for tracking student complaints, ensuring programs meet state-licensing requirements, and verifying that institutions’ facilities are safe.

The Democrats’ bill would also adjust the cohort-default-rate metric to show more accurately how many student-loan borrowers an institution has and how many are in forbearance for 18 months or longer. The Aim Higher Act also would give institutions different thresholds to improve their cohort default rates.

Access for Financially Vulnerable Students

The Prosper Act would help financially insecure students by improving their “early awareness” of how to go about obtaining federal aid. Colleges would have to inform such students about aid no later than their sophomore year of high school.

The bill also would improve transparency by creating web tools with easy-to-understand information about federal aid as well as colleges and universities. All recipients of federal aid would have to undergo counseling tailored to the type of aid they receive, according to the bill summary.

The Aim Higher Act would focus on reaching students of particular backgrounds, including undocumented students, Native American students, and students in U.S. territories. The bill would remove all “barriers” to federal student aid or tuition assistance for those students.

The bill would also improve the chances of completing college by supporting students at community colleges, students with disabilities, students who are homeless or in foster care, students struggling with substance abuse, students who are military veterans, and students who are parents in need of child care.

Follow Teghan Simonton on Twitter at @teghan_simonton, or email her at teghan.simonton@chronicle.com.