Washington Update

FY25 Appropriations Update
The House continues its consideration of Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills, with subcommittee consideration of the Agriculture funding bill and full committee markup of the State and Foreign Operations, Defense, Legislative Branch, and Financial Services bills last week.

The Appropriations Committee releases bill reports 24 hours in advance of full committee markup. These reports include account-level funding details not included in the bill text. The APLU priorities chart is updated to reflect the latest House action.

The House Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill (summary found here) provides a moderate increase of $3 million (4 percent) to the Innovation Labs, bringing funding levels to $75 million. The USAID higher education account and the Gilman Scholarship program are flat-funded over FY24. There is no amount specified for the Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) program, but the report includes relevant language: “The Committee supports continued funding of the IDEAS program, which provides competitive grants to United States universities and colleges to establish, expand, and broaden their study abroad programming.”

FAFSA Updates
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that Jeremy Singer, President of the College Board, will oversee FAFSA strategy and technological innovation at the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA).

ED also announced that it will use the same FAFSA form for the 2025-2026 year in an effort to reduce bureaucratic steps needed to prepare for launching the form October 1. This summer ED will also host listening sessions and a request for information to collect feedback from stakeholders to improve guidance and support for next year’s FAFSA.

FSA also announced that it continues to fix technical issues and offered guidance for institutions to address FAFSA records with conflicting information regarding student aid eligibility for the current award year.

APLU recently joined an advocacy letter urging ED to commit to a fully functional FAFSA on October 1, to meet necessary interim milestones as soon as possible, and to clearly communicate timelines. The association is in regular contact with ED and continues to push for an expedient resolution to issues that have created extraordinary challenges for students, families, and institutions while underscoring concerns from member institutions.

Pell Grant Update: Budget Experts Predict Funding Will Last Longer than Expected
This week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) posted its annual estimate of the Pell Grant funding outlook for the next 10 years. If Congress continues providing the same annual funding for Pell in spending bills each year, CBO predicts there will be enough funding in the Pell Grant reserve to maintain the maximum Pell Grant of $7,395 through fiscal year 2028 (FY28), without needing to cut eligibility or benefits. Previously, experts predicted the Pell Grant reserve would run out in FY26 or even FY25. For context, in recent years when facing a shortfall in the Pell Grant reserve, Congress cut Pell Grant awards for lower-middle-income students, cut the lifetime Pell Grant eligibility limit from 18 to 12 semesters, removed “Ability to Benefit” for students without a high school degree or GED, and eliminated Year-Round/Summer Pell Grants (the latter was restored in FY17).

APLU has consistently supported doubling the maximum Pell Grant over time, and advocated with Congress this year in letters from the Student Aid Alliance and Double Pell Alliance.

In less positive news, CBO estimated there will be about 490,000 fewer students who will receive Pell Grants in FY24, compared to CBO’s FY24 estimate from their May 2023 baseline – due in substantial part to this year’s delayed and error-ridden FAFSA rollout. However, in the past few months since CBO locked in its estimation model, FAFSA submissions have been catching up, so it’s possible there won’t be as big a reduction in students receiving Pell Grants in FY24, and the number of students will increase sooner in future years.

Farm Bill Frameworks Include Agriculture Research Facilities Funding
On May 23, the House Agriculture Committee held a markup of H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024, the Republican Majority’s proposal for the 2024 reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Ahead of the House markup, APLU President Mark Becker released a statement supporting the inclusion of the Research Facilities Act and mandatory investments in agriculture research facilities in both chambers’ Farm Bill packages.  APLU also released a statement supporting proposed research facilities investments in the Senate minority proposed Farm Bill framework.

NDAA Update
Last Friday, the House passed its annual defense policy bill, H.R. 8070 the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act and National Defense Authorization Act for FY25. The bill contains several research security provisions that could prohibit DOD funding to institutions and individual investigators if they have relationships with entities in China, Russia, Iran, or other countries of concern.

The Senate Armed Services Committee marked up its version of the NDAA behind closed doors. While bill text has not been made public, the Committee released a high-level executive summary. The Senate bill authorizes about $25 billion more than the negotiated $895.2 billion defense limit imposed as part of last year’s debt limit deal. This may open the door to renegotiating defense and non-defense budgetary caps.

White House Action on DACA
Earlier this week, the White House announced several actions with impacting DACA recipients. The announcement streamlines existing pathways for a work visa for Dreamer graduates of U.S. universities who have a high-skilled job offer in a field that aligns with their degree. The announcement does so through 212(d)(3) waivers (also known as D-3 waivers), which waive the re-entry ban for individuals outside the country who were not subject to CBP review upon their initial entry. This action will allow these Dreamers to re-enter the country subject to review, thus making these individuals eligible for nonimmigrant employment-based visas. These individuals must still apply for advance parole before leaving the country and be selected for a visa, but the action removes a significant obstacle towards employment for covered individuals.

Judicial Action on Title IX
In an opinion released on Monday morning, the Chief Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued an injunction on the Biden administration’s Title IX rule within the six plaintiff states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. Last week, the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered a separate preliminary injunction applied to Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, and Idaho. In another separate matter, a federal court in Texas last week struck down the Biden administration’s guidance on the application of Title IX to sexual orientation and gender identity.