From Pell Grants to file sharing, the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HR 4137) approved last week by Congress has it all. The massively complex bill, which spans nearly 1,200 pages and took five years and three Congresses to pass, will increase Pell Grants and simplify the process of financial aid applications.

While many higher education groups have praised the provisions intended to help low-income students, some have raised issue with many new federal reporting and regulatory requirements. In a letter to President Bush, the American Council on Education and other education association signatories expressed concern with many of these new mandates, particularly in “dealing with textbooks, tuition and fees, cost of attendance, alumni activities, foreign gift reporting, fire safety, graduation rates, drug violations, vaccines and peer-to-peer file sharing.”

The letter praises the bill’s intent to hold down the cost of tuition, but ACE writes, “Competing with that goal, however, are the numerous unfunded mandates that will be imposed on colleges and universities. Complying with these requirements will be time-consuming and inevitably will increase administrative and personnel costs on campuses.”

Although Bush is expected to sign the bill, the Department of Education has raised concerns over the decision to prevent it from issuing regulations on higher education accreditation. However, most education associations, including ACE, praised this decision.

In its official statement on the bill, the Association of American Universities wrote,  “We appreciate the inclusion of provisions that preserve accreditation as a rigorous, non-governmental peer-review process and that preclude the federal government from regulating, thereby setting, accreditation standards.”

Key provisions of the bill include:

• A simplification of the application for financial aid, which would reduce the number of questions on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) from 108 to 44.

• Pell Grants will be available year-round and will increase from $4,800 to $6,000 in 2009. The grants will continue to increase through 2014.

• The Department of Education will be required to publish data about college costs and universities will be held accountable for large increases in tuition.

• Universities will be required to publish the cost of textbooks in online catalogs with the goal of showing the true cost of the course.

• New programs for minority students have been added, including a provision to increase post-baccalaureate opportunities for Hispanics and a graduate degree grant program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The HBCU grant is designed to offer “a substantial contribution to graduate education opportunities at the masters level in mathematics, engineering, the physical or natural sciences, computer science, information technology, nursing, allied health, or other scientific disciplines for Black Americans.”

• The bill will provide opportunities for teacher education, with special attention paid to preparing teachers for “digital age learners.”

• A grant for rural-serving colleges and universities has been created.

• Numerous programs have been established to promote success and graduation rates among low-income students.

• Campus security issues were addressed, requiring colleges and universities notify their students when there is an emergency on campus.

The bill will clearly have a lasting impact on higher education for years to come. While significant reservations remain, ACE President Molly Corbett Broad wrote in a letter to university presidents that, “This bill, when coupled with last year’s College Cost Reduction and Access Act (which cut interest rates on student loans and boosted Pell Grants) and the recently approved expansion of the GI Bill, will significantly help millions of students and families finance their higher education. This is an important and valuable outcome.”