WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today introduced the Higher Education Affordability Act (HEAA), his bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill takes a comprehensive approach to rein in rising college costs and ensure the system is better serving students and families.
After receiving thoughtful feedback from stakeholders in the higher education community throughout the summer, Chairman Harkin incorporated several recommendations that strengthen many of the measures he previously proposed. Harkin’s bill focuses on four main goals: increasing college affordability, helping struggling borrowers, strengthening accountability, and improving transparency of college costs and quality.
“A college education has long been an essential pathway to the middle class, with states, the federal government, students and families all doing their part when it comes to costs" Harkin said. “Unfortunately this history of shared responsibility has eroded, forcing students and families to pay more than ever before. At the same time, a lack of accountability and transparency makes deciding where to go to school and how to pay for it a far more confusing and potentially risky process. Today I am introducing the Higher Education Affordability Act, which makes critical reforms to put students and families back in the driver’s seat. The stakes have never been higher to ensure our postsecondary education system is working for all Americans and I urge my colleagues to join me in moving this critical bill forward."
The HELP Committee has convened 12 bipartisan hearings to discuss the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), the main law governing institutions of higher education in the United States. In these hearings, the Committee heard from students, parents, educators, and other stakeholders on how to improve our higher education system to ensure that it is accessible and affordable for all Americans.
Focusing on the major issues in higher education, Harkin’s Higher Education Affordability Act includes the following provisions:
Increasing Affordability and Reducing College Costs for Students Now By:
Tackling the Student Loan Crisis by Helping Borrowers Better Manage Debt by:
Holding Schools Accountable to Students and Taxpayers By:
HelpingStudentsand Families Make Informed Choices By:
Additional Reforms to Better Assist Underserved and Vulnerable Students Include:
Supporting Students with Disabilities By:
Supporting Students at Minority Serving Institutions By:
Improving the Student Loan System for Military Families By:
- Designate certain faculty to serve as the point of contact for veterans.
- Establish a working group responsible for veterans issues.
- Publicize a plan to ensure that disability services are available to meet the needs of wounded warriors.
- Evaluate and maximize the number of credits students can receive from military training and service.
The bill summary, bill text, and bill section-by-section are available online.
As Chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Harkin has been a strong voice for college affordability, accountability, and access. In 2012, Chairman Harkin led Senate passage of the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act, to reduce interest rates on all federal student loans. In 2010, Chairman Harkin fought to pass the Health and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, which eliminated billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies to banks and redirected that money to students and families in the form of increased Pell Grants to low-income college students, putting the priorities of students and families ahead of subsidies to lenders. Prior to the HEA reauthorization process, Harkin also chaired four hearings in 2012 and 2013 on college affordability.
