Washington Update: Reauthorization, Ratings and Regulations

1. Washington Update: Reauthorization, Ratings and Regulations Christina West Assistant Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations Vanderbilt University

2. Setting the Context • Election Year • Primaries start in earnest in May • November 4 • The House has 59 legislative days left before Nov. 4 • Could the Senate flip? • Big Picture legislative priorities • FY 15 appropriations bills • Tax Reform • Medicare Physician Repayment • Long-term unemployment benefits

3. Musical Chairs - House • House • Republicans • Term Limits for Kline • Next up: Tom Petri (WI) • Democrats • George Miller retiring • Rob Andrews resigned • Bobby Scott (VA)

4. Musical Chairs - Senate • Democrats • Tom Harkin is retiring • Speculations: Mikulski (MD), Murray (WA), Sanders (VT) • Republicans • Depends on the majority – • Alexander (TN) or Enzi (WY) ?

5. The Education Queue Every major piece of education/workforce legislation is awaiting authorization K-12 (ESEA) Ed Research (ESRA) Higher Ed (HEA) Special Ed (IDEA) Workforce (WIA) Child Care (CCDBG)

6. Beyond Education . . . • HELP – • Raising the minimum wage • Mental health • Nominations • Education & the Workforce – • NLRB • Implementation of Obamacare

7. Other House Higher Ed Bills

8. Other Senate Higher Ed Bills

9. HEA – New Actors, Influencers

11. Senate HEA Hearings • Federal Student Aid • Teacher Preparation • Students with Disabilities • TRIO/GEAR-UP • Accreditation • Simplifying federal student aid • Innovations • The Triad – Accreditation, Universities and States • The Student Lens

12. House HEA Hearings • Non-traditional Students • Student Loan Rehabilitation Process • Teacher Preparation • Best Practices for Low-Income, First Generation Students • Pell Grants • Impact of ACA on schools and universities • Federal Student Aid • Innovative Partnerships • Innovation • Accreditation • Role of higher education in job growth/economic development • Student Loan Programs

13. HEA – Emerging Themes • “Start from scratch” • One grant, one loan (one tax credit) • Simplify and streamline reporting requirements • Buzz Words: transparency, accountability, access, completion, affordability

14. At the Other End of Pennsylvania Avenue • Putting colleges “on notice” • Pay As You Earn – Expanded Income Based Repayment • White House Summit on Access • FLOTUS activities • College Ratings

15. Federal Ratings or Rankings? Harkin: What if one university or college has a strong program amid a host of weak offerings, and gets a low rating as a result? … These, he said, were “things that I had not thought about before.“ Alexander: Forcing all 6,000 colleges to use the same rating system would turn Washington into “a sort of national school board for our colleges and universities.“ ACE: “Beyond the many questions and technical challenges that surround the development and implementation of a proposed rating system, rating colleges and universities is a significant expansion of the federal role in higher education and breaks new ground . . . .” NAICU: “Private, independent college leaders do not believe it is possible to create a single metric that can successfully compare the broad array of American higher education institutions without creating serious unintended consequences.” APLU: The group said the department should pursue an alternative to a federal ratings system, in which colleges are judged based on a set of measures (including graduation, loan repayment, and employment rates) that are adjusted by a “student readiness index” that controls for different types of student populations. 

16. Consumer Disclosure Efforts • White House • Financial Aid Shopping Sheet • College Scorecard • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau • Tools to help students learn how to pay for college, repay debt, submit a complaint, banking on campus, college credit cards, managing money • Know Before You Owe • VA - Principles of Excellence • DOD MOU

17. Never-ending NegReg • Program Integrity Issues • State Authorization of distance education; authorization of foreign institutions; campus debit cards; clock hour to credit hour; retaking coursework; PLUS Loans • Violence Against Women Act/Campus SAVE • Last session last week • Gainful Employment • Proposed regsissued March 14 – over 800 pages long • Title II – teacher preparation • Concluded without consensus nearly 2 years ago

18. Regulatory Reform – Dept. of Education Senate-appointed Task Force on Government Regulation of Higher Education • Provide specific recommendations to consolidate, streamline and eliminate burdensome, costly and/or confusing regulations, legislation and reporting requirements; • Review and quantify the extent of all federal reporting and regulatory requirements with which institutions must comply, including estimates of the time and costs associated with specific regulations and requirements; and • Provide recommendations for reform to ensure future regulations are promulgated in a manner that appropriately considers existing law and accurately examines the costs and benefits to taxpayers, institutions and students.

19. FY 15 Budget Proposal • Mixture of Recycled…. • $5,830 Pell Grant • Campus Based Aid • Perkins • Pay As You Earn • First in the World (innovation) • Race to the Top for higher ed (public institutions) • And New…. • Cap on Public Service Loan Forgiveness • Pell Bonus • Funding for ratings

20. Questions? Christina West Assistant Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations Vanderbilt University christina.d.west@vanderbilt.edu 202-216-4370