Recently, the Democrat members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee unveiled the Aim Higher Act, a comprehensive rewrite of the federal postsecondary education law. The measure serves as a response to the Republican higher education reauthorization proposal, the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act, which passed out of the committee on a party-line vote last December and has yet to be taken up by the full chamber.
The bill includes a proposal to expand Pell Grant eligibility to students enrolled in short-term education programs that lead to a recognized postsecondary credential and are least 150 clock hours of instruction time. This provision mirrors the ACTE-endorsed Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act, which received bipartisan support from Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH).
Additionally, the bill would increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $500, index the value of the grant in future years to inflation and extend the lifetime eligibility cap from 12 to 14 semesters. Unlike the PROSPER Act, the Democrat proposal would not eliminates interest subsidies on federal student loans and does not recommend consolidating the existing financial aid programs into a “one grant, one loan, and one work-study” system. It would phase out the existing Federal Work-Study formula for allocating funding to postsecondary institutions and replace it with one that distributes resources based on student need and the number of Pell Grant recipients served by an institution. The bill also recommends maintaining the TEACH Grant program, Perkins Teacher Loan Forgiveness program and Direct Stafford Loan Cancellation for teachers—all of which would be eliminated under the Republican plan.
The Aim Higher Act would remove the current “student unit record” ban, an ACTE policy priority, and direct the Department of Education to develop a secure system for evaluating student-level data. It authorizes a new grant program for community colleges to help institutions develop and implement evidence-based programs that increase degree completion through academic and financial advising and other student support services. The measure also proposes a new federal-state partnership grant that would provide states with aid in exchange for maintaining state funding for higher education and offering two years of free community college for all students.
