The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has written to the Senate Labor, Health, Education and Pension (HELP) Committee, outlining its position on the higher education provision in the House-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The Senate will likely craft its reconciliation bill by modifying the House bill’s provisions. Both chambers must agree on a final piece of legislation, although it will only require Republican votes.
The HELP Committee is responsible for identifying major cuts to the federal student aid programs, including Pell grants, to parallel the cuts proposed in the House bill. Other issues on the table include “risk-sharing,” workforce Pell grants, Pell funding itself, and student loans and repayment. Taken together, the legislative issues on the table effectively constitute a mini-reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
The House bill reduces mandatory spending on higher education programs by some $349 billion over 10 years, with the vast majority of savings coming from the loan programs. For a final bill to be palatable to both chambers, the HELP Committee will try to get close to that number.
Pell on the chopping block
The House’s proposed cuts to the Pell Grant program are of the highest concern to AACC. The reduction “would result in substantially decreased opportunities for low-income individuals. In the process, they would compromise the strength of the American economy,” AACC said in its correspondence.
The letter outlines how the House bill would redefine a full-time student for the purposes of Pell to one who takes 30 semester hours per year, an increase from the current minimum of 12 credit hours per semester. The change means that all students taking fewer than 15 credits a semester would see a cut in their Pell Grant award. For example, a student now taking 12 credits in a term and receiving a full Pell Grant will only receive 80% of the Pell Grant maximum, currently set at $7,395.
Even more harmful to community college students is the House’s proposed elimination of Pell Grant eligibility for less than half-time students, AACC noted.
“Coupled with the new definition of full-time enrollment, students taking fewer than 8 credits would no longer qualify for a Pell Grant — they would commonly need to enroll in three courses to receive any support. This would be catastrophic for students, leaving most of them with no feasible higher education alternative, given the low cost of community colleges. They are certainly not likely to enroll in a more costly institution. This change would also call into question the viability of most Second Chance Pell sites,” according to the letter.
Venues of action
It is not yet clear whether the Senate will consider the legislation through the normal committee markup process or simply consider the entire bill on the floor before sending it back to the House for final passage. Republican leadership has stated they would like the final reconciliation bill signed into law by the July 4th recess, but most observers think that the month-long August break is more realistic.
The proposed changes to Pell Grant eligibility would be devastating for community college students across the country. AACC continues to urge members to contact their senators and share the impact that these changes would have on your Pell Grant students. We will communicate with member colleges very soon on a Senate strategy and how they can be most effective in this all-important process.
