Higher Education

It is important to provide our nation's students with an opportunity to receive a quality education. There are few things more valuable to an individual than a good education, and few things more valuable to a community than an educated populace. And, a generous financial aid system is essential to providing access to higher education for students.

The House approved legislation to bolster our higher education system and expand college access for low-and-middle-income students. The "College Access and Opportunity Act of 2006" increases loan limits to $3,500 for first-year students, $4,500 for second-year students and $12,000 per year for graduate students. Student loan fees have been reduced from 4% to 1% for all students, and financial burdens on active duty soldiers have been eased.

To ensure the Pell Grant program is around for future generations of Americans, the legislation generates $11 billion in savings over the next five years by reducing program waste and inefficiency. The changes will place higher education programs on a more stable financial foundation to ensure the program does not collapse under its own weight. Any student currently eligible for federal student financial aid will still have the same access, if not more, to the federal student loan program.

To view the presentation from the Federal Financial Aid Workshops please click here.

Primary and Secondary Education

The House passed legislation to reform the Head Start Program. The bill gives disadvantaged students a better chance to succeed in school by increasing funding to $6.8 billion. We also passed a measure to increase elementary and secondary education funding under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by one-third.

Student achievement is on the rise under the NCLB. According to the Nation's Report Card, which was released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in July 2005, elementary school student achievement in reading and math is at an all-time high and the achievement gap is closing. America's nine-year-olds are posting the highest scores ever recorded in reading and math, using data which goes back to 1971 for reading and 1973 for math.

In ten years, funding for the U.S. Department of Education has increased by nearly 150 percent, from $23 billion in 1996 to $57 billion in 2006.