House Passes HEA Bills

The U.S. House of Representatives has decided to take a piecemeal approach to the Higher Education Act by recently passing five bills that address some of the easier aspects of the legislation. Overhaul of the entire act isn’t likely to be completed until next year.

Among the bills passed, one would simplify the application for federal student aid and another focused on financial counseling, according to a report in U.S. News & World Report. Other bills dealt with making information about colleges and universities easier to access and improving benefits to historically black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions.

“We have more work to do to strengthen higher education, but today we are making important progress,” said Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chair of the House’s Committee on Education and the Workforce, during a speech as lawmakers prepared to vote on the bills.

The legislation passed by the House has a strong chance of passing in the Senate because states will not have to take on spending to deliver the services to students, according to Education Dive. However, the Senate is still trying to tackle the entire Higher Education Act with one overhaul.

HEA Rewrite Unlikely in 2016

While presidential candidates debate the pros and cons of their plans for education, the chances that Congress will reauthorize the Higher Education Act in 2016 are moving from slim to none as each day passes. The law that was passed in 2008 was supposed to expire in 2014, but has continued through automatic extensions or other congressional action.

Most observers see a comprehensive rewrite of HEA as a longshot during a presidential election year. In addition, it’s thought that any new administration will not have reauthorization high on its list of legislative priorities once it takes office next January, according to a report in Inside Higher Ed.

“I don’t see any real possibility of the House and Senate passing two bills, reconciling them together, and sending something to the president,” said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “The better question is: Will we actually see bills introduced in the committees? That, to me, would be progress.”

While there is some hope among experts that lawmakers may still be able to pass smaller bills this year, many areas of disagreement remain and must be worked out. Even in an area such as financial aid simplification, getting a bill in front of the House or Senate will not be easy despite bipartisan support.

“I do think we’ll see some legislative language and more people showing their cards,” Draeger said. “At least then we’ll have something we can work with and react to.”

Affordable Textbook Act Reintroduced

The Affordable College Textbook Act never got off the ground when it was introduced in 2013. Now, it’s being reintroduced as Congress works on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The act, sponsored by Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Al Franken (D-MN) in the U.S. Senate and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) in the House of Representatives, would encourage the use of open-access textbooks by providing grants to schools to make free or low-cost digital content available to professors, students, and researchers.

The grant process would allow schools to conduct pilots aimed at expanding the use of open educational resources as a way to lower college expenses to students. Applicants would have to provide estimates on the potential cost savings, with priority placed on programs that save students the most.

Publishers would be required to make all textbooks and educational materials available for sale as individual pieces of content, rather than as a bundle. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to provide updates on price trends of college textbooks.

GAO Releases Its Report on HEOA

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) has made it easier for students to find textbook pricing information, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). However, the report also found that costs continue to rise at an average of 6% per year.

The study was required by the HEOA to show what steps textbook publishers, campus bookstores, and faculty members were making to enhance students’ choice and knowledge about the books they were buying. It found that used, digital, and rental textbook provide lower-cost options, but also that the price of new printed textbooks often drives the cost of other items.

The GAO reported that all publishers in the study use their web sites to provide their pricing of textbooks for bookstores and direct to consumers, and faculty members are more conscious about pricing when assigning the material. The report also stated publishers are making their bundled materials available for individual sale, but components are not always the lowest-priced option and students may have limited choices when it comes to buying unbundled materials.

The agency found 81% of colleges and universities disclose lists of assigned textbooks for each course, including ISBNs and retail price, and nearly 93% of the schools made that information available in public areas that did not require a password.

“While we are pleased that publishers and schools are complying with federal transparency requirements, more needs to be done to provide more affordable textbook options,” wrote Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in a joint statement. “As the GAO report suggests, transparency alone isn’t enough.”

The Ruckus Network shut-down

Earlier this month, The Ruckus Network, an online music streaming service designed to fight illegal file sharing on college campuses, abruptly shut down. According to an article from Tech Crunch, the closing came because Total Music, the joint venture between Sony BMG and Universal Music Group that acquired Ruckus last year, is also struggling. Total Music acquired Ruckus with the intention of using the technology for the back-end of a music streaming service for Facebook however it is not likely that this deal will happen now because both companies can not agree to the terms. Facebook is not willing to share revenue and user data in return for free music and Warner Music has refused to join in the agreement with the other major music labels.

This announcement has left over 1,000 universities that were registered in the Ruckus system wondering what to do next because as an article in PC Mag explains, the Higher Education Opportunity Act requires that students using university networks are given an alternative to popular P2P sharing networks. However the law does not currently explain what measures would be considered an appropriate alternative and now the U.S. Department of Education is working to define the terms, a task that could take several months. Additionally, the remaining leading service, the Choruss initiative which is backed by Warner Music Group, is not currently available because many details including pricing still need to be worked out.

The music industry is now tasked with determining an affordable solution for universities to participate in, as the fight to stop illegal file sharing on campus continues. The tough part is coming up with a pricing model that works for all parties. As Jason Herskowitz, Vice President of Project Management at TotalMusic explained on his blog soon after the Ruckus announcement, “I only hope that someone else figures out how to crack this music-on-the-web nut in a way that is a win for everyone in the value chain. The problem is that to make a music service a win for everyone, then all of the famished participants have to sit at the table - and be content to let all the others have a little bit to eat, even though they are still hungry themselves.”