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Statement by
David A. Longanecker
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education
Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education
on the
Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request
for Postsecondary Education Programs
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to appear before you to discuss the fiscal year 1999 budget request for the programs administered by the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education.
Our fiscal year 1999 budget request reflects President Clinton's continuing commitment to universal access to quality postsecondary education and lifelong learning. Our request supports the Administration's proposals to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which strengthen on-going programs and introduce new initiatives to help students plan and prepare for postsecondary education; encourage persistence and completion of postsecondary education programs; make college more affordable; and ensure that all Americans have the opportunity for lifelong learning. We are also proposing a more seamless and modernized delivery of student aid with a simplified application process requiring less paperwork, and with increased efficiency and accountability. Together, the Administration's reauthorization proposals and our budget request build upon the strong bipartisan support that exists for postsecondary education and complement the historic higher education tax credits enacted last year.
Our fiscal year 1999 budget request supports the Administration's commitment of access to postsecondary education for all Americans by increasing support for grant aid and work-study assistance while reducing student borrowing costs. To ensure that all students are aware of the opportunities to pursue postsecondary education and are academically prepared to take advantage of these opportunities, we are proposing important new programs that would improve teacher preparation, promote awareness of the importance of postsecondary education and the sources of financial aid, and promote lifelong learning. We are also proposing to expand support services to help disadvantaged students prepare for, and succeed in postsecondary education.
High Hopes would encourage disadvantaged and at-risk students to have high expectations, and would help them succeed in school and prepare for college. We are requesting $140 million for the program's first year. Projects would develop or expand partnerships between colleges and middle or junior high schools that serve low-income students by providing these students with extensive support services including tutoring, counseling, and mentoring; and information about college options, academic requirements, costs, and financial aid. Businesses, community-based organizations, and others would be encouraged to join as partners with schools. Projects would serve entire classes of students beginning in the sixth or seventh grade, and continuing through high school. By reaching more students, earlier, and through locally supported High Hopes partnerships, we can help disadvantaged students reach their full academic potential.
We are also requesting $15 million for the College Awareness Information Program to support an information campaign designed to raise the awareness of students, parents, teachers and school counselors, as well as adults in need of further education, concerning the value of a college education, the steps that need to be taken to prepare for college, and the availability of student financial assistance to help meet its costs.
These important new initiatives will complement our portfolio of TRIO programs, one of our most effective means of helping disadvantaged students prepare for, and succeed in college. To build on the documented success of TRIO as a critical partner in our combined effort to help disadvantaged students, the Administration is seeking $583 million for TRIO in fiscal year 1999, a 10 percent increase over the previous year, to strengthen and expand its programs.
The President also believes that a well-prepared, dedicated, and diverse teaching force is essential to preparing students, particularly disadvantaged students, for success in postsecondary education. To assist low-income and rural communities attract a sufficient number of qualified teachers, we are requesting $67 million for a two-part teacher recruitment and preparation initiative that would replace the numerous small, disconnected authorities currently authorized. The Recruiting New Teachers for Underserved Areas component would support partnerships between institutions of higher education and school districts that serve low-income communities to recruit new teachers for high-poverty urban and rural areas. The Lighthouse Partnerships program would enable institutions that want to improve their teacher programs to partner with institutions that have demonstrated exceptional success in preparing teachers for urban and rural schools in low-income areas. Partnerships would include institutions with strong, well-sequenced clinical experiences where pre-service teachers are placed under the supervision of master teachers to learn how to work effectively with all students, especially those who do not learn easily. We believe that this investment will have a significant impact by attracting 35,000 qualified teachers over the next five years to high-poverty urban and rural areas, and by dramatically improving the quality of training and preparation provided to our future teachers.
As more students from groups traditionally under-represented in postsecondary education, as well as greater numbers of older and part-time students, seek further education, the Administration is proposing changes in existing programs to respond to these demographic changes in the student population. For example, the Administration is proposing to expand the benefits of TRIO to a larger portion of the disadvantaged population by adding priority points to applicants proposing projects in under-served geographic areas. We are also proposing to increase developmental support funds for institutions that serve large numbers of disadvantaged students. In fiscal year 1999 we are requesting a total of $260 million for Title III, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. Our request also includes $7.5 million, an increase of 43 percent over the previous year, for the Minority Science Improvement Program.
In fiscal year 1999 we are proposing to increase the maximum Pell Grant from $3,000 to $3,100 to provide about $7.6 billion in Pell Grant awards to nearly four million students. We are also proposing to increase Work-Study funding by $70 million to a total of $900 million. This would meet the President's commitment to give more than one million students the opportunity to work their way through college. The Administration has encouraged institutions to use their Work-Study funds to promote community service activities, and the community has responded; students at more than 900 colleges and universities will participate this year in the America Reads Challenge, earning money for college while they are helping to ensure that all children can read well and independently by the fourth grade. We are also requesting $619 million for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), $60 million for the Federal Perkins Capital Contributions -- which when combined with the funds estimated to be available in the Perkins Loan Revolving Fund would provide $1.1 billion for new Perkins loans to some 788,000 recipients. Under our reauthorization proposals, we are proposing to gradually increase the portion of campus-based funds distributed on a "fair share," or aggregate student need basis to more accurately reflect the current distribution of needy students.
The Administration continues to support a strong student loan system. To improve efficiency we are proposing to streamline and simplify the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program and to restructure its guaranty agency system. We are also proposing to improve consistency in the terms and benefits of loans in all loan programs and to provide increased benefits to students. To help reduce the debt burden on students and families who rely on student loans to finance postsecondary education, the Administration is proposing to reduce the loan fees that borrowers must pay by one percent in 1999, and to eliminate them entirely for needy students by 2003.
The Administration has also offered a proposal to go forward with a scheduled 10 percent reduction in the interest rate on student loans to help keep college affordable for students and families. A recent Treasury report indicates that we can address lender concerns and still give students an interest rate cut. To preserve a reasonable profit for banks and other lenders the Administration is proposing a number of steps to improve lender profitability, such as reducing regulatory burdens and moving from a long-term to a short-term instrument to set interest rates. Our reauthorization proposals would enable the student loan system to take better advantage of competition and technology, making the program simpler and more efficient. To ensure that all eligible students have access to funds they need under the FFEL program if lenders choose not to make loans as a result of the reduction in interest rates scheduled to take effect July 1, the Secretary has the authority to call on Sallie Mae to act as a lender of last resort, and to advance federal capital to guaranty agencies to be used for lending last-resort loans. If lenders respond reasonably to a sensible proposal we can achieve the reduction in interest rates and maintain student access to loans.
The Administration is also proposing several incentives to encourage Americans to work and save for college, and to ensure that those who do so are not penalized. These include raising the income protection allowance for dependent students and the income offsets for independent students, and allowing the Secretary to develop an alternative asset calculation in the determination of need through the regulatory process.
We are also encouraging institutions to operate more efficiently through programs such as the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) that support projects to enhance quality and cost effectiveness. This effort is consistent with the recommendations of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, which commended FIPSE's efforts to encourage cost effectiveness.
In spite of the progress we have made, students from low-income families still enroll in postsecondary education at far lower rates than do their peers from more affluent families. In 1996, only 49 percent of 18- and 19-year-old high school graduates from the lowest income quintile entered college within two years of graduation, compared to 58 percent of students in the middle three quintiles and nearly 80 percent of students in the highest quintile. To examine the effects of alternative packages of Federal student aid -- in combination with institutional aid and other resources -- on the postsecondary education access and retention of low-income students and students from under-represented groups, the Administration is requesting $20 million for a new Access and Retention Innovation program. We anticipate the findings from this program will provide guidance in targeting future resources more effectively for these students.
To ensure that more students have access to graduate education in disciplines that are important to our nation's continued security and economic well-being, the Administration is requesting $37.5 million for the National Need Graduate Fellowship program. This new streamlined and simplified program would promote high-quality, graduate-level teaching and research in areas of national need, potentially including the humanities fields that have received funding under the Javits program, and it would encourage women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities to prepare for postsecondary academic careers in fields in which they are, and have been, under-represented.
My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have.
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