The AFT is not supporting the proposed College Access and Opportunity Act of 2004 (H.R. 4283), which Republican leaders on the U.S. House of Representatives education committee introduced May 6. The bill addresses student loan provisions of the Higher Education Act, which Congress is working on reauthorizing this year.

In a strongly worded letter sent May 11 to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Charlotte Fraas, director of AFT's legislation department, details the AFT's concerns about the bill, which, she argues, "promotes the financial interests of the for-profit higher education industry at the expense of the needs of students."

The AFT believes the act should have three critical components, she notes: It should restore the purchasing power of the Pell grant, reduce the rising debt burden on students, and improve support for nontraditional students.

The AFT is disappointed that for Pell grants, the government's "cornerstone" financial aid program for low- and middle-income students, H.R. 4283 would set the maximum grant at $5,800; the AFT wants that amount doubled over the next six years. The bill would end borrowers' ability to consolidate their loans at a fixed rate, thereby increasing costs on people already burdened with large student loan debt. It also mistakenly assumes that nontraditional students have more resources available to them than they actually do. The proposed bill also fails to provide sufficient funds for TRIO and GEAR-UP, programs crucial to helping more low- and middle-income students move on from high school to college.

Fraas also criticizes the bill's proposal to change rules and definitions that would open more federal dollars to for-profit institutions and distance education providers. "Making a new university of institutions eligible for student aid…without imposing safeguards aimed at preventing fraud and abuse would be highly irresponsible," she writes.

"The current HEA reauthorization represents a tremendous opportunity to improve access to higher education for America's low- and middle- income students. It should not be reduced to an exercise in improving access to federal aid for private entrepreneurs." [Brian Dolber, Barbara McKenna]

May 13, 2004