Legislative Relations Committee Report
Bill Spiers, Chair

Where Has Reauthorization Gone?
In the 50’s, Pete Seeger wrote the song, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” The words were:

Today in financial aid we are asking “Where has reauthorization gone?” and the words to the Pete Seeger song seem to aptly apply to what we are seeing in reauthorization. I think the final two lines are appropriate as, regardless of party or politics, politicians never seem to learn the importance of the Higher Education Act and the influence the decisions they make have on students, even at an early age.

With a news media that consistently has a focus on the negative, young people today hear the message that financial aid doesn’t exist for their higher education, discouraging students who need assistance and reinforcing the message that a college education is beyond their reach. While we all agree that choice has been hindered by the level or decreased funding of important Title IV programs, we must admit that access still exists, hindered, but it still exists.

As financial aid administrators, we must foster what I refer to as a culture of hope. We have a responsibility to tell students what they can do, what they can afford, and how they can get there. We need to let young students know that a college education is an option, and how important it is that they take the challenging courses they need to be successful.

The earlier we begin to evangelize, the better off the young students will be. Studies indicate that the biggest disconnect in learning occurs between elementary and middle school. The same studies indicate that students begin to see a higher education as an unrealistic dream at this point as opposed to a realistic opportunity. If we can convince these young students that a post-secondary education is in their financial reach, just possibly we can keep more of them on track and prod them toward a college degree that they may have been socialized to believe was out of their reach.

Where has reauthorization gone? We don’t know, but part of it was called Budget Reconciliation. When will they ever learn?

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