Higher Ed Utah

On March 25, Congress cleared H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. It is expected to be signed into law by President Obama on March 30. While much of this bill (and the attention surrounding it) was focused on health care, there were education provisions included. Many of the education-related provisions mirror those originally included in the House-passed Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, however, numerous changes had to be made to cut costs due to the overall size of the reconciliation package.

 The new law includes proposed changes to student loans–most notably for CTE, it provides additional funding for Pell Grants to shore up minimum grant amounts and $2 billion for new “Community College and Career Training Grants.”

 The new funds would provide $500 million a year for the next four years for the Community College and Career Training Grant Program through the Trade Adjustment Assistance account in the Department of Labor (authorized but not funded by last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). The grants would be competitive, but each state would receive at least 0.5 percent of the total. Eligible institutions would include community and technical colleges, postsecondary vocational institutions (as defined by the Higher Education Act) and other postsecondary institutions offering programs that last two years or less. Grants must be used to develop, offer or improve an educational or career-training program that is suited to workers eligible for training under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act.

 We anticipate that more detailed guidelines and grant applications for the first year of funding will be released soon by the Department of Labor. ACTE will notify you when this additional information becomes available.