Education Committee Seeks Stakeholder Input on HEA Reauthorization

On April 25, 2013, leaders of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce issued a call to higher education stakeholders — universities, students, parents and employers - to provide their views on issues that should be addressed in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The current HEA authorization is set to expire at the end of calendar year 2013.

A letter signed by Chairman John Kline of Minnesota, Ranking Member George Miller of California, Subcommittee on Higher Education Chairwoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, and Ranking Member Rubén Hinojosa of Texas requested feedback on a range of higher education policy and programmatic issues. Specifically, the Committee is interested in examining ways to:

• Empower students as consumers in higher education
• Simplify and improve the student aid and loan programs
• Increase college accessibility, affordability and completion
• Encourage institutions to reduce costs
• Promote innovation to improve access to and delivery of higher education
• Balance the need for accountability with the burden of federal requirements

While the Committee asks that stakeholders submit thoughts by August 2, 2013, we would recommend that you develop and submit comments well in advance of that deadline. Regarding comments, the Committee urges stakeholders “... to provide background, cite the concerning statutory language or regulation, detail the change you suggest (with proposed legislative language, if possible), and include the rationale for your suggested change.”

The Committee’s letter can be viewed on the House website.