,Why the Senate Higher Education Bill is Good News for Low-Income Adults--and How to Make it Even Better

Why the Senate Higher Education Bill is Good News for Low-Income Adults--and How to Make it Even Better


 

Publication Date: September 2005

Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy

Author(s): Amy-Ellen Duke; Julie Strawn

Research Area: Education

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

On September 8th, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved S. 1614, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Among the billÂ’s provisions that will help low income adults are new, supplemental Pell grants to the poorest students; expansion of Pell grants to students enrolled less than half-time or attending year round; pilots of student aid for modularized programs; and grants to prepare nontraditional students for high growth jobs. Further improvements in the bill are needed, though, to increase aid to working adults, to simplify student aid applications, and to prevent fraud and abuse.