In the fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations process, Congress has an opportunity to restore fiscal sanity to federal education spending. President Joe Biden launched the FY 2024 appropriations process recklessly, calling for $90 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of Education, a $10.8 billion (13.6 percent) increase from FY 2023.…

This guidance is intended to assist State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools in understanding, implementing, and expanding preschool programs supported with funds under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). This non-regulatory guidance has been revised to…

Veterans' educational assistance programs provide benefits or services to eligible service members and veterans and their family members, as applicable, to help such individuals pursue education or training. The GI Bills provide financial assistance while recipients are enrolled in approved education or training programs. Eligibility is based on a…

In order to participate in Title IV programs, institutions must submit annual audits, performed by an independent auditor, to Federal Student Aid (FSA). Proprietary institutions' auditors are required to perform the compliance audit and financial statement audit in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards, Generally Accepted Auditing…

This paper measures the effects of subsidies in the Affordable Care Act on adverse financial outcomes using administrative tax data and credit data on financial outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences design with propensity score reweighting, I find that at $100 per capita, ACA premium tax credits and cost-sharing reduction subsidies reduced…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are vital to higher education. Yet, many land-grant HBCUs have received lower levels of funding since their inception. While many state legislatures have targeted funding toward HBCUs in recent years, many institutions feel that the historic inequity must be remedied. This issue brief examines…

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, specifies a loan origination fee of 1 percent for all Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and a fee of 4 percent for all Direct PLUS Loans for both parent borrowers and graduate and professional student borrowers. Student loan origination fees, the hidden student loan tax, generated…

IDEA is the cornerstone federal law that safeguards and promotes the educational rights of children with disabilities. It was enacted in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which established a right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for all children with disabilities for the first time. Before the EHA, there…

Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act was put in place to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify that the prohibition on the use of Federal education funds for certain weapons does not apply to the use of such weapons for training in archery, hunting, or other shooting sports. The Act includes the following…

The purpose of this document is to answer Frequently Asked Questions related to the disposition of equipment and supplies under the Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) program. For the purpose of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) concerning disposition of equipment and supplies under the Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools…

To help the nation respond to the pandemic, Congress injected about $4.6 trillion into the U.S. economy through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and subsequent legislation. Of this amount, over $75 billion was directed to institutions of higher education through the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund,…

This report provides a brief summary of the status of FY2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) appropriations as of the cover date of this report. It also provides background on the scope of the LHHS bill generally and the context for congressional appropriations decisions, including the submission of the President's budget…

Research and development spending by academic institutions totaled $89.9 billion in FY 2021, an increase of $3.4 billion (4.0%) from FY 2020 (table 1). R&D expenditures funded from federal sources accounted for $3.0 billion of the total increase. Federally funded R&D expenditures had not increased by $3 billion or more since FY 2011, when…

States are coordinating with two-year institutions on workforce programming for unemployed or underemployed residents. Reskilling residents is especially vital for states that endured historic unemployment rates as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs. Nationally, the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) is making…

Outstanding Higher Education Act (HEA) Title IV federal student loan debt exceeds $1.6 trillion and is owed by about 45 million borrowers. In August 2022, the Biden Administration announced it would invoke the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) to cancel, on a one-time basis, up to $20,000 in qualifying…