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Image provided by: SUNY Polytechnic Institute
April 27, 1977 Paper Sun Page 9 Amendments To Student Aid And Related Programs Under Title IV Of The Higher Education Act General Provisions Administrative Allowances. In the campus-based programs, the allowance to institutions is increased from 3 to 4 percent, up to a maximum of $325,000 per institution. Additionally, the new bill authorizes payment to the institution of $10 per BEOG and GSL recipient. In contrast to the automatic set-aside under the campus-based programs, the latter funds must be separately appropriated by the Congress. These administrative allowances must be used by insitutions first to meet the new requirements for student consumer information (see below), and second to meet other expenses of administering student aid. Student Information Services. Institutions receiving payments, as described above, must carry out a program to disseminate information to students who inquire about financial aid. The information “shall be produced and be made readily available, through appropriate publications and mailings, to all current students and to any prospective student upon request.” The information shall include what student assistance is available, how it is distributed, means of application, rights and responsibilities of students receiving aid, costs of attendance, refund policies, and the academic program of the insitution. Institutions must designate an employee or group of employees - available full-time - to assist students in obtaining such information. The Commissioner of Education may waive the full-time requirement in the case of small insitutions. An outgrowth of Senator Jacob K. Javits’ (New York) Student Consumer Information Act, these provisions of the law will take effect on July 1, 1977. Student Counselors. The Commissioner is directed to survey institutional techniques in providing information to students, convene interested parties, and report to Congress by October 1, 1977, on the use and quality of services to student peer counselors and other part-time financial aid personnel. The conferees on the bill substituted this provision for a Senate-passed requirement under College Work-Study that insituted this provision for a Senate-passed requirement under CollegeWork-Study that institutions hire peer counselors according to specified ratios. Training. An amount of $280,000 is authorized for matching grants to the states to develop training programs for financial aid administrators. The states are to administer the funds “in consultation with statewide financial aid administrator organizations.” Student Eligibility. The new law provides that, to be eligible for aid, a student must be making “satisfactory progress” in his course of study (according to the standards and practices of the institution) and must not owe a refund on a previously awarded grant or be in default on a guaranteed loan made for attendance at the institution in which he is currently enrolled. Institutional Eligibility. The Commissioner is .authorized to prescribe regulations necessary for a fiscal audit of eligible institutions, for the establishment of reasonable standards of financial responsibility, and for insuring that institutions supply lenders with the latest known address and enrollment status of students who have taken out loans. The Commissioner’s previous authority under the Guaranteed Loan Program to limit., suspend, or terminate institutions is extended to all programs under Title IV. Within 120 days, the Commissioner must issue revisions of previously published rules for the Guaranteed Loan Program so that they become applicable to all Title IV programs. The commissioner is also authorized to suspend or terminate the eligibility of an institution that engages in “substantial misrepresentation of the nature of its educational program, its financial charges,'or the employabiity of its graduates.” “Trigger.” The final bill includes a modified and complicated version of the O’Hara trigger mechanism. For every two dollars of student aid appropriated in excess of $2.8 billion in fiscal 1978 (or the total of what is actually spent in fiscal 1977 for BEOG, SEOG, CWS, and NDSL, whichever is higher) and $3.1 billion in fiscal 1979 (or the spending total for the same programs in fiscal 1978, whichever is higher), one dollar must be added to the total of appropriations for three institutional support programs named in the law—Title I of the Higher Education Act (which now includes new provisions for the support of lifelong learning), Title VH (loans for facilities construction), and Title X (community college development). The matching requirement will become inoperative after a total of $215 million is reached in appropriations for the three programs. Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOG) an experimental program of state processing of GEOG applications in not less than two nore more than five states. Participating states will be required to allow portability in their own scholarship programs. Per unit processing fee paid to the states may not exceed that paid to any agency or organization that performs similar application processing on contract with the Commissioner. Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) Extended for three years without change. Authorization remains at $200 million for initial awards and “such sums as necessary” for renewals. State Student Incentive Grants (SSIG) Extended for three years at authorization of $50 million annually for initial year awards and “such sums as necessary” for continuing grants. States required to provide eligibility to students in all nonprofit institutions of higher education within the state. Allows carryover of unused SSIG funds to the next fiscal year. Provides for bonus payments under SSIG for states having loan guarantee agencies. When the SSIB appropriation (currently $44 million) exceeds $75 million, one-third of the excess shall be apportioned separately to those states having guarantee agencies. College Work-Study (CWS) Extended for six years with authorizations of $450 million in fiscal 1977, $570 million in fiscal 1978, $600 million in fiscal 1979, $630 million in fiscal 1980, $670 million in fiscal 1981, and $720 million in fiscal 1982. Definition of eligible institutions expanded to include consortia. Language added obligating institutions to try to make equivalent employment opportunities “reasonably available (to the extent of available funds) to all students in the institution who desire such employment.” Provides that no student’s CWS employment shall be terminated because income derived from outside employment together with income from CWS exceeds the student’s documented need, but that when such excess income reaches $200 or more there may be no further federal subsidy o f the work-study employment. (The statement of the House-Senate conferees on the bill explains that the purpose of this provision is “to give more flexibility in the awarding of student aid, wth the intent of allowing a student to continue his employment during any semester without the institution’s having to ’recapture’ other aid previously awarded to the student.” The conferees note that, for the new provision to be meaningful, SEOG and NDSL regulations will have to be adjusted. The conferees’ statement urges the Commissioner “ to implement the new provision in work-study by immediately notifying schools of this change and amending his regulations to allow for a $200 technical ’overaward,’ rather than the current $100, when the student’s income is derived from employment.”) Authorization for Work-Study for Community Service Learning lapses. Authorizes new Job Location and Development Program, under which institutions may use up to 10 per cent or $15,000 of their SWS allocations tp locate or develop off-campus jobs. Insitutions may take advantage of this option through consortium arrangements or through contract with a nonprofit organizations, with the federal share not to exceed 80 per cent. National Direct Stdent Student Loans Extended for three years at previous authorization level of $400 million. Restores provision for cancellation due to death and disability (inadvertently omitted in 1972 legislation) and makes it retroactive to June 23, 1972. Requires institutions to report to the Commisioner at least twice a year on the number of loans in default (120 days for thos loans being repaid on a monthly basis and 180 days for those on a less frequent repayment schedule). Permits repayment to begin earlier than nine months after termination, at the request of the borrower and concurrence of the school. Permits repayment at less than the minimum of $30 per month to avoid hardship, but the reduced payment period is not to exceed one year and may not extend the 10-year total repayment period. Extended for three years. . . . , . Maximum grant raised from $1,400 to $1,800 beginning in academic rear 1978-79. . . . . , , Annual date of submission of the family contribution schedule to Congress moved from February 1 to July 1 of the preceding year, and he deadline for possible Congressional disapproval from May 1 to Ictober 1 of the previous year. t liiL . , ,, All of a student’s social security benefits and one-half the student s educational benefits under the G.I. Bill to be considered as family •ather than student income. Educational expenses of other dependent children to be considered n Hptermining the family contribution, as under SEOG. Permits carryover of unused BEOG funds to the next fiscal year, irovided the surplus does not exceed 15 per cent. Directs the Commissioner, beginning after July 1, 1977, to conduct Guaranteed Student Loan Program (GSLP) Extended for five years. Income ceiling for automatic interest subsidies raised from $15,000 to $25,000. Undergraduate loan limits: up to $2,500 per year and $7,500 aggregate. Federally insured loans originated by state and institutional lenders may not exceed one-half the cost of attendance in the case of first-year undergraduate students. (By a drafting error, the new law applies this one-half cost restriction to all undergraduates, not just first-year students, when the state-or institution-originated loan is guaranteed by the state.) Graduate loan limits: up to $5,000 per year and $15,00 aggregate. Student not to borrow more than $1,500 from an institutional lender (Continued on page 10) $25.1 Million Restored To Tap Over Carey’s Recommendation By Stephan O’Sullivan (SASU) — There’s good news tonight from the State Legisla ture. $25.1 million have been restored to the Tuition Assistance Program by the State Legislature to six aid categories. The restoration is considered to be the direct result of the unprecedented political pressure brought upon law makers by State and City University students since September. The students efforts have been noted in political analysis appearing in the New York Times and an Albany daily. Students wrote more than 12.000 letters, registered and voted in record numbers, brought hundreds of their own to Albany to lobby and thousands to demon strate for increased financial aid. The major aid reduction restor ed by legislators would have eliminated the minimum $100 TAP award for thousands of middle income students attending SUNY or CUNY, but not for private schools students. This plan created a furor in some circles and is seen as a major impetus for the student’s organizing. The Legislature did not restore nearly $500,000 in Equal Oppor tunity Program aid to SUNY, but this aid is seen to have a good chance of restoration in the Supplemental Budget to be made up later this spring. City University students have claimed credit for the restoration of nearly $5 millio for the City University. CUNY has undergone a period of retrencmenent much more severe than that served to the STate University. Nearly 50.000 students have been forced out of school since tuition was imposed at CUNY last year, marking the end of a 129 year policy of not tuition. The TAP restoration breaks down as follows: a) $9 million restored to reinstate the January 1974 high school graduation date for TAP eligibil ity. b) $2 million to limit TAP in associate or masters programs to four semester payments. c) $11 million to retain the $100 minimum award Governor Carey wanted denied SUNY, CUNY and Community College middle income students only. d) Funds set to counter the Governor’s plan to deduct other aid from student’s TAP figure. (Continued oh page 6) Get Involved In Student Activities
