Office of the Chancellor

External Affairs

Current Federal Legislation

Statement on Senate Foreign Relations Committee Passage of the Sen. Paul Simon Student Abroad Foundation Act (S. 991)

February 13, 2008—The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously passed the Sen. Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007 (S. 991).  The legislation establishes a national study abroad competitive grants fellowship program designed to increase the numbers of students studying abroad to 1 million per year in 10 years.

U.S. House takes up Higher Education Act on Thursday

February 6, 2008, Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. House will take up the Higher Education Act on Thursday, including several amendments that could put new rules on colleges' endowments. For colleges with endowments above $500 million, one amendment would require them to use at least 5% for student aid.

Analysis: Prompted by a Senate Finance Committee staffer, Mr. Wyatt, Congress began looking at the tax incentives that prompt giving to college endowments. In summary, the theory is that if college's receive the benefit, then in return, they should serve some public interest, i.e. need-based aid. This amendment has numerous critics, even those who criticize higher education. In Louisiana, this amendment is problematic because most endowment funds are tied to some donor intent, such as endowed chairs or professorships. However, no public universities' endowment exceeds $500 million, so the amendment would not apply...now.

President's Ag Budget Released

Feb. 5, 2008, National Association of State Universities & Land Grant Colleges

The USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) would see a $190 million reduction below the FY 2008 enacted level. This includes cuts to all three of the major CSREES funding categories: (1) Research and Education Activities would be reduced by $133 million; (2) Extension Activities would be cut by $21.5 million; and (3) Integrated Activities would be reduced by $35.7 million. (The table below presents a line-by-line breakdown for all CSREES programs.)

Earmarks. As in previous budgets (going back at least several administrations), the President recommended elimination of the congressional priorities generally known as "earmarks." This included some $88 million in "special research grants" (Research) and $40 million in "federal administration grants" (Research and Extension).

Research and Education Activities. The Administration has once again proposed substantial changes to three formula-based programs: (1) the Hatch Act program would be reduced to $139 million, with $98 million to be directed to a new competitive multistate program; (2) McIntire-Stennis funding would drop to $19.5 million, with $13 million going to a new competitive multistate program; and (3) funding for the Animal Health and Disease program would be eliminated. Also "zeroed-out" in the budget were the Alternative Crops, Critical Agricultural Materials Act, Joe Skeen Rangelands Research Grants, and Veterinary Medical Services Act line-items.

Extension Activities. Some extension accounts received small decreases and some minor increases. Notably, two Smith-Lever 3(d) programs would be either reduced or eliminated: (1) the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) would be cut by $3.3 million;  and (2) Farm Safety would be "zero-funded." At the same time, another 3(d) program -- eXtension -- would receive a $1.5 increase. The 1890s Extension program would be reduced by $1.8 million. Finally, Rural Health and Safety Education funding would be eliminated.

Section 406 Integrated Activities and the NRI. The National Research Initiative would receive $256.5 million. Included within that total, however, is $45 million in funding for programs authorized under Section 406 of the Research, Extension, and Education Act of 1998 and previously administered under the "Integrated Activities" heading of the CSREES budget. (Section 406 programs include: National Integrated Water Quality Program; Conservation Effects Assessment Project; National Integrated Food Safety Initiative; Crops at Risk Program; Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program; Methyl Bromide Transitions; and Regional Integrated Pest Management Centers.)

Pell Grant Increases gets Congressional Approval

September 7, 2007

The College Cost Reduction and AccessBill passed the U.S. House and Senate today and will go to President Bush for approval. The transfer funds from the lender subsidy program and directs it to the direct aid programs, such as the Pell Grant. More than 94,000 Louisiana students receive Pell Grants. For more information, read "Pell Grant Increases passes the House" below.

Pell Grant Increase passes the House
On July 11, 2007, the US House approved a reconciliation bill that allows the maximum Pell Grant to grow to $5,200 per year, and includes loan forgiveness for certain public sector fields, grants for pre-service teachers, and income-based loan repayments. H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act, passed by a vote of 273 to 149. The House and Senate have slightly different versions of the bill that will have to be hashed out (see table below).

LSU awarded 4,575 Pell Grants in 2005-06 at a total of $12.4 million. Roughly 18% of LSU's undergraduates receive a Pell Grant, one of the lowest proportions among Louisiana public universities, but one of the highest in terms of number of students served. LSU also awarded slightly less than $1 million in SEOG grants in that year. In all, LSU awarded $13.6 million in grant aid and $2.8 million in legislatively mandated exemptions. For FY08, two programs will exist to help low-income LSU students: Pelican Promise, offered by the University, and Go Grants, which is available to all Louisiana students.

The loan component of the bill is more complex as it includes federal subsidies for low-interest, need-based loans. The loss of some lender subsidies could affect the loan interest rates. Of the 9,600 students in 2005-06 who had remaining need after grants and scholarships, about 8,000 took out a loan amounting to $39 million, or about $4,500 per student. In all, LSU students took out $87.6 million in loans.

There are consequences for reducing loan-provider subsidies, such as higher interest rates and fewer pay-back incentives for students. That could negatively affect low-income students who do not have enough grant money to cover costs and make it more difficult for middle-class students who don't qualify for grants and don't have the liquidity to cover costs immediately. Loan companies will also feel pressure from stockholders to as they have to balance the loss of subsidies with the sensitivity of the market. News of the House's action sent a shock through the markets sending Sallie Mae, the largest loan-backer, into an 11% plunge in stock prices and threatening a business deal that had been in the works.

From a student's perspective, President Bush and Congress are both in agreement that more aid is necessary and there will likely be a compromise providing more money for the Pell Grant program.

History

February 1, 2007: Secretary Margaret Spellings announces President's plan for larger Pell Grants. The maximum Pell Grant grew from $4,050 in FY07, to $4,310 in FY08, and the plan called for $5,400 over the next few years.

7/13/07

America COMPETES, S. 761
This legislation intends to secure the United States’ role as a leader in the global economy.  The bills aims at doing this through educating students in areas we are falling behind compared to our global competition, such as science, technology, engineering, and math.

NASULGC Report on Congress
January 31, 2007
The National Association of State Universities & Land Grant Colleges reported that the US House scheduled to act tomorrow on the budget continuing resolution (CR) for FY2007, H. J. Res. 20, was officially filed last night.  A summary of the resolution from the House Appropriations Committee is attached.  The text of H. J. Res. 20 is available at the following URL:  http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110th_hjres20.pdf .

The joint resolution includes increases above the FY2006 levels for several NASULGC priorities.

NSF
The CR proposes to increase the Research and Related Accounts (R&RA) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) by $335 million above the FY2006 level.  The would bring R&RA funding to $4.66 billion and NSF to $5.92 billion for FY2007.

DOE
The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science would be increased by $328 million above FY2006 in non-earmarked funds.  The Office of Science funds include approximately $128 million from earmarked funds in FY2006 that would remain at the Office of Science under the CR.  The actual increase in overall funding for Office of Science would be $200 million.

NIH
On the biomedical front, the CR proposes $28.931 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of approximately $620 million above the final FY2006 level.  NIH estimates that the additional funding would be sufficient to support 500 additional research project grants.  The CR would appropriate $483 million specifically for the Common Fund, which would represent a change from previous years, when the NIH Institutes and Centers contributed a uniform percentage of their appropriations to the Fund.  The resolution also includes $69 million, an increase of $58 million, for the National Children's Study.

USDA Research
One big concern of many in the NASULGC community had been the fate of agricultural research funding.  As CGA are aware, there were concerns that the special grants for agriculture research, approximately $185 million in FY2006, would be used for other accounts and would be lost to the research community.  As a result of the input and engagement of the agriculture research community, the CR would keep the special grants within the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).  The CR proposes to redistribute the special grant funds to various formula funds as one-time increases.

The Hatch Program would see an increase of $145 million while another $8 million would be redirected to the McIntire-Stennis account.  As a result of the CR, the National Research Initiative (NRI) would see an increase of $9.1 million while the "1994" institutions would see an increase of approximately $1.6 million with respect to agriculture research.  The historically black land-grant institutions would see an increase of $3.47 million above the FY2006 level under the CR.

With respect to extension programs, the CR proposes to increase the Smith-Lever program by more than $12.5 million above the FY2006.  The Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP) program would see an increase of $1.53 million above the FY2006 level.

2008 Fiscal Year - President's Budget Request by Agency

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
  • The Defense Department does not hold public budget briefings.  However, the budget documents should be available on the web at the following addresses:
    http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2008/index.html and http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/budgetindex.html
    The budget requests for science and technology (S&T) programs will be included in the "Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Programs" document, also known as the "R-1."
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
  • 2008 planning documents (NIH) http://www.hhs.gov/budget/docbudget.htm
• Department of Homeland Security
  • 2008 planning documents http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/budget/ .
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (PDF)
• Department of Interior
• Department of Justice
• Department of Labor
• Department of State
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Treasury
• Department of Veterans Affairs