Reed College advocates for higher education access

Students from all socioeconomic backgrounds should be able to benefit from a post-secondary education

Reed College has been hard at work this winter pushing for stronger federal policy to support students from all economic and social backgrounds.

“It is important that Reed College continues to advocate for higher education and its essential role in our society,” said President Audrey Bilger. “Many of the House bills being proposed pit one sector of higher education against another. We should be lifting up all higher education options to ensure our next generation can choose how best to pursue the education and skill set needed to succeed now and in the future.”

Bilger is an elected member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) Board, which focuses on federal legislation and policies that impact independent, nonprofit colleges and universities. Under her leadership, Reed College has recently addressed the following areas of policy:

H.R. 6585 Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act

H.R. 6585, the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, recently advanced out of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and is awaiting its time on the House floor. The Act would allow students to use their Pell Grant for short-term training programs at vocational schools that run between eight and fifteen weeks. To pay for that eligibility, Congress proposed different ways for private nonprofit institutions that pay the endowment tax, such as Reed, to cover the costs of the short-term Pell Grant for other institutions. The endowment tax often hits hard for small schools like Reed because of the way the tax is structured. Reed’s endowment allows the school to meet the financial needs of its students without burdening them with high loan amounts. Read more about the endowment and how it factors into Reed’s annual budget.

H.R. 6585 initially proposed stripping institutions that are subject to the endowment tax, including Reed, from being able to offer federal student loans at all. After Reed reached out to its congressional delegation, the creators of the bill changed that provision to instead require institutions that are subject to the endowment tax to reimburse the federal government for 1) the full amount of whatever student loans aren't repaid (for graduates and non-graduates), 2) the total amount of interest waived or paid under certain loan repayment programs, and 3) loans forgiven under Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The bill was scheduled for a vote at the end of February, but it was pulled last-minute as House leaders did not believe they would have the votes necessary to pass it. The bill could be reintroduced at any point for a House vote.

In letters to elected officials and during visits to congressional offices, Bilger and Sheena McFarland, executive director of public affairs and communications, argued that students should be able to use their Pell Grants for their desired programs, but that choice should not come at the expense of Reed’s students. Reed meets all financial need of admitted students, and very little of that comes in the form of federal student loans. However, students do still take out some amount of student loans in any given year. In the current school year, 604 students borrowed federal student loans totaling about $3.6 million. The majority of these students come from middle- and upper-middle-income families. Reed’s default rate before the payment pause was 2.1%, well below the national rate of 7%, demonstrating that Reed students borrow responsibly and repay their loans as required.

However, asking private institutions to repay the federal government for any loan forgiveness or amounts that students default on sets a dangerous precedent. This approach is particularly problematic because students can choose to borrow their aggregate amounts and schools are prohibited from denying students' access to federal student loans. This means institutions would be assessed reimbursement costs for loans over which they have no control.

H.R. 6951 College Cost Reduction Act

Several provisions in the proposed H.R. 6951, the College Cost Reduction Act, would harm student access to higher education. Namely, H.R. 6951 eliminates the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and Leveraging Education Assistance Partnership (LEAP) programs and eliminates the Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS loan programs. These programs often provide assistance to students from middle- and lower-class economic backgrounds in order to provide them access to higher education.

Reed presented information to policymakers about the negative consequences of this legislation and asked House and Senate members representing Oregon to fight against these changes. Reed has worked diligently to ensure students from all financial backgrounds are able to access a higher education, and this legislation works against that goal.

As the bill moves forward, Bilger will continue to reach out to Congress members to ask them to vote against this legislation in its current form.

DACA Amicus Brief

Reed College has signed on to an amicus brief with 167 other institutions of higher education and nonprofits to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in a filing with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas v. United States. The filing was spearheaded by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

The amicus brief highlights the fact that DACA recipients, commonly referred to as Dreamers, are key contributors to the U.S. and that ensuring they have access to higher education makes sense for them and society as a whole.

“The transformational power of higher education is undeniable, and for Dreamers, access to higher education holds the promise of not only improving the quality of life for the students themselves but also can change the trajectory of their families, be that parents, grandparents, or children,” Bilger said. “It is essential that these young adults, who have lived nearly their whole lives in the United States, are able to earn a college degree and continue to contribute to U.S. society in meaningful ways after they graduate.”