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Kline Applauds Passage of Higher Ed Bill to Improve Student Financial Counseling

House continues effort to reform Higher Education Act

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2014

The House of Representatives today approved bipartisan legislation that would improve financial counseling support for college students and their parents. Passed by a vote of 405 to 11, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (H.R. 4984) is the third in a series of bills passed by the House to strengthen the nation’s higher education system.

Authored by Representative Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and cosponsored by Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act:

  • Ensures both students and parents who participate in a federal loan program receive interactive counseling each year that reflects their individual borrowing situation.
                                                                                                
  • Informs low-income students about the terms and conditions of the Pell Grant program through annual counseling that will be provided to all grant recipients. 
                                                                                              
  • Directs the secretary of education to maintain and disseminate a consumer-tested, online counseling tool institutions can use to provide annual loan counseling, exit counseling, and annual Pell Grant counseling.

Earlier this week, the House also passed with overwhelming bipartisan support legislation to spur innovation and strengthen transparency in higher education. Speaking of the progress being made to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) said:

The House continues to make strong, bipartisan progress toward strengthening our nation’s higher education system. The legislation advanced today will help students and families make smart choices about paying for a college education. I want to thank Representatives Guthrie, Hudson, and Bonamici for their bipartisan leadership on this important legislation. By working across the aisle, we can help make a difference right now in the lives of students and families. I encourage the Senate to follow our lead and look forward to continuing this bipartisan effort in the months ahead.

To learn more about H.R. 4984, click here.

To learn more about the effort to reform the Higher Education Act, visit /highered/.

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