In examining the federal role over the past 50 years, it is clear that the federal government has provided leadership, resources, and support to states, institutions, and students in order to help address challenges that are national rather than local in scope. Some of OPE's oldest programs, for example, were established in 1958 under the National Defense Education Act to provide foreign language and cultural expertise that were critical to national security in the Cold War era.

In the 1960s and 1970s, as the nation came to terms with the fact that broader access to higher education was becoming increasingly critical to individual opportunity and national economic prosperity, Congress authorized new programs to help get first-generation college students to and through postsecondary education (the TRIO programs); to help families finance postsecondary study (the Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, College Work-Study, and Title IV loan programs); and to strengthen institutional capacity to serve larger numbers of underserved students (the Strengthening Institutions programs).

Recent Reform Efforts

Over the past eight years, President Clinton, Vice President Gore, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Congress have worked hard to provide access to postsecondary education to all Americans. For example, they more than doubled the investment in student aid through more grants, more affordable student loans, and new paths to college. The new Hope Scholarship tax credit provides up to $1,500 in tax relief for each of the first two years of college. The Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC) provides up to $1,000 (increasing to $2,000 in 2003) for juniors, seniors, and graduate students, as well as those taking classes part-time to upgrade job skills. The LLC, which is also available for the first and second years of college if a student doesn't use the Hope Scholarship, can be used any number of times during an individual's lifetime. The new Direct Student Loan program has resulted in all students' obtaining loans more quickly, simply, and cheaply.

Realizing that college sights and strong academic preparation have to be set early, the new GEAR UP initiative raises expectations. GEAR UP is estimated to help more than 700,000 disadvantaged middle-school students in 2001¹ get-and stay-on track for college success through partnerships between high-poverty middle schools, colleges, universities, and communities. The federal support for TRIO programs to help low-income students succeed in college has increased by two-thirds since 1993 to $645 million.²

Federally supported government financial aid to students, including Pell Grants, student loans, the new Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Credits, has increased from about $30 billion in 1993 ³ to a projected $60 billion in 2001.⁴ Since 1993, the maximum Pell Grant for America's neediest students has gone from $2,300 to $3,300⁵ -a 43.5 percent increase. Since 1990, the U.S. Department of Education's direct aid to postsecondary institutions has grown from $841 million to over $1.7 billion.⁶

In 1998, Congress authorized a range of new programs to address new challenges facing postsecondary education. These programs build partnerships to increase the number of low-income students who successfully go on to college; to improve teacher quality and teacher preparation; and to use technology to enhance quality distance education. In a landmark change, Congress created a separate Performance Based Organization office to administer the Department of Education's mammoth financial aid programs-freeing up the Office of Postsecondary Education to focus more on broader issues and ways to meet students' needs.

All these changes have been necessary for multiple reasons, but the primary reason is the numbers are multiplying.

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