Reauthorizing HEA now critical: tackling student aid issues head-on, Rep. Holt `champions' the cause. (Update).

Claiming that at least 218 votes will be needed to pass the HEA (Higher Education Act) Reauthorization, the Hon. Rush Holt (D-NJ) recently warned educators meeting on Capitol Hill that they need to "keep up the drum beat" by working to get the word out in their own districts, and in Washington.

"I intend to be the champion for colleges and universities in the HEA Reauthorization process," Holt declared to much applause, but added that he needed input from educators regarding what the current HEA means, in practice. (What was right about the 1998 reauthorization? What was wrong?) As for the Pell Grant, "It's several decades behind the times," Holt commented. "This year's increase in the grant was good, but there's much more to do," he said, adding that the White House request for a rescinding of $1.3 billion in "low priority" education programs won't even cover the shortfall in funding for Pell Grant costs. "We need to figure out how to pay for the Pell Grant program at a level that makes it useful to families," he urged. "Family college decisions are based on that Pell Grant."

Improving the student loan program and lowering interest rates is a critical part of the current HEA reauthorization process, he maintained, and affirmed that his committee is trying to make sure that the current low interest rate on Stafford loans (due to expire in 2003) will be permanently reauthorized. He went on to advocate a careful examination of origination fee elimination, student aid packaging, and needs analysis. Pointing to students' increasing need for ways to fund college education, he also proposed a hefty increase in the amount of aid that schools must set aside for work/study programs.

The legislator--who is a member of the House Budget and Education, and Workforce Committees--also discussed the prospects for higher education-in-general, in the second session of the 107th Congress. Topping his list was the issue of student visa reductions, to which he commented: "Now is not the time to cut higher education off from the rest of the world, or to bar the rest of the world from our system." But, he said, he would be supporting bills to put more security measures into place, and to establish and monitor a student visa database. He also urged a shattering of the backlog in the higher education reporting bureaucracy. "No more useless reporting from schools!" Holt declared. "The government must use that reporting, or abolish it."

"It's time to get these things right," he said.