Higher Ed Groups Ask Lawmakers to Prioritize Graduate Education

A coalition of higher ed groups asked key Senate and House lawmakers in a letter Monday to make graduate students a priority in a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The letter went to Senator Lamar Alexander, the GOP chairman of the Senate education committee, and ranking Democratic senator Patty Murray as well as Representative Bobby Scott, chairman of the House education committee, and ranking Republican representative Virginia Foxx. It noted recent decisions by Congress that have made graduate education more expensive, including elimination of in-school interest subsidies for grad students and higher origination fees on Grad PLUS loans. Lawmakers also removed graduate eligibility for the Perkins Loan program before its expiration in 2017.