Higher Ed Policy Roundup: Vol. 9 - Issue 28

This Week In Washington

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies advanced an appropriations bill to fund the Education Department (ED) for fiscal year (FY) 2026. The bill would fund ED at $67 billion, a 15% cut from FY2025 funding levels, and eliminate the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program which provides low-income parents with grants for campus-based child care services.

The bill is in line with President Trump’s budget proposal released earlier this year which called for the same cuts. The full committee is expected to mark up the bill early next week.

News You Can Use

Financial aid advisors are worried about how the Trump administration’s latest effort to bolster identity verification in the student aid system could limit eligible students from accessing public benefits.

A survey conducted by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) shows that nearly three-quarters of borrowers say they are worried about repaying their student loans.

Recent Legislation

The following bill(s) have been recently introduced for consideration by the 119th Congress (2025-26):

H.R. 5084 – Teacher Loan Forgiveness Act [Rep. Cleo Fields (D-LA-6)] would amend the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 to provide undergraduate student loan forgiveness for public school teachers who provide eight years of consecutive teaching service.

H.R. 5121 – Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act [Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21)] would modify the criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies or associations for higher education institutions.

S. 2700 – Debt, Earnings and Cost Information Disclosure for Education (DECIDE) Act [Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH)], a companion bill for the Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act, was also introduced.