H.R. 4508 would reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) and amend institutional and student eligibility for several major student aid programs, including the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Pell Grant Program. It also would reauthorize funding for most other federal higher education programs. Major provisions of the bill would:
Amend repayment options for borrowers in the federal student loan program and eliminate loan forgiveness for certain borrowers who are employed in the public sector (direct spending savings of $40.0 billion over the 2019-2027 period);
Amend federal loan programs for undergraduate borrowers, in particular by eliminating the subsidized loan program and increasing loan limits in the unsubsidized loan program (direct spending savings of $18.5 billion over the 2019-2027 period);
Eliminate origination fees paid by student loan borrowers (direct spending costs of $14.5 billion over the 2019-2027 period);
Provide an additional $300 to Pell grant recipients who enroll in at least 15 academic credits per semester (direct spending costs of $7.3 billion over the 2018-2027 period); and
Amend or repeal restrictions on institutional eligibility for federal student aid for certain types of schools, the largest of which would repeal the definition of distance education and eliminate the cap on the percentage of revenues that proprietary schools can receive from the Department of Education (direct spending costs of $1.9 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively).
