The House Education and Labor Committee on Thursday voted 28-22 to approve a massive overhaul of federal student loans and other higher education programs that they touted as an overdue move to address the costs of higher education.
The 1,165-page measure earned no Republican support at the end of a markup that began Tuesday. Among numerous other provisions, it would expand Pell Grants, tweak the Federal Work-Study Program, direct more aid to minority-serving institutions, emphasize campus safety and set several new requirements designed to impose tougher standards on for-profit colleges. It would also use federal aid to encourage states to offer tuition-free community college educations.
The measure represents the increasing importance of addressing student debt as a plank of the Democratic agenda. Throughout the debate on amendments, which concluded on Wednesday, Democrats praised the bill as a long-awaited solution to a $1.5 trillion student debt crisis and a necessary crackdown on schools with predatory practices.
View the complete October 31 article by Caroline Simon on The Roll Call website here.