Washington
Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander last week sent to the Congress additional details about the Bush Administration’s proposals for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act of 1965.
For the most part, the statement reiterated the Administration’s already announced plans to distribute Pell Grants to the neediest students, to increase loan limits for the Stafford Student Loan Program, and to include a financial incentive for high academic performance.
But Mr. Alexander’s summary of legislation that is expected to be formally transmitted later this month also included a number of provisions that had not been previously mentioned by Administration officials.
Among the legislative changes outlined by Mr. Alexander were proposals to:
- Expand the Income-Contingent Loan program, which is currently a pilot program at 10 institutions under which students repay their loans according to a schedule based on their post-graduation income. The proposal would remove the limit on the number of institutions participating in the program and extend loan eligibility to graduate students.
- Bring the National Science Scholars program, currently authorized under the Excellence in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education Act of 1990, under the hea and increase its authorization level to $20 million by fiscal 1994.
- Eliminate from participation in student-aid programs, by 1994, schools whose graduates have a loan-default rate of 25 percent or higher.
- Prohibit the use of financial incentives to recruiters who bring students to certain schools.
- Repeal a provision allowing college-aid counselors to adjust a student’s expected family contribution to college or cost of attendance in “special circumstances,” on the grounds that the provision could lead to abuse.
