Higher Education Sees Significant Increases In New Federal Funding Bill

Congress is trying to pass a roughly $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill this week that will keep the federal government open through next September. Lawmakers have been hammering out an agreement that includes funding for policies authorized previously by Congress as well as several new priorities. It provides $858 billion for defense funding and $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary items.

Higher education received increases in several areas, which, although not as large as many advocates would have hoped for, will continue recent progress in areas of financial aid, research, student support, investments in minority-serving institutions, and workforce development. Also included are hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks, now more decorously termed “community project funding.”

The entire bill can be found here. Here are some highlights.

Pell Grant Inrease. The maximum Pell Grant award will become $7,395 - a $500 increase for the 2023-24 school year. This is the largest increase in the maximum Pell Grant, the primary source of federal financial aid for low- and moderate-income students, since the 2009-10 school year, and builds on the $400 increase provided last year.

While still falling short of the $13,000 maximum Pell award that many have urged and that President Biden has endorsed, the increase represents reasonable progress toward that goal.

Trio and Other Student Support. The bill includes $1.2 billion, a $54 million or 5% increase for TRIO, which helps over 800,000 low-income first generation students get into college and succeed when they’re there.

Also included is an increase of $10 million for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program to improve access to affordable and convenient child care options for student parents.

More Support for HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions. The bill includes $1 billion, an increase of $137 million or 15% to strengthen Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, and other historically under-resourced institutions serving a high percentage of low-income college students. The bill also includes $50 million for investments in research infrastructure at HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other MSIs.

Increased Research Funding. The bill makes significant increases in the budgets of several federal agencies that fund university research and development. For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) received a 12% increase above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level. That funding includes:

• $7.8 billion for NSF’s research and related activities, an increase of $680 million above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level, to implement the CHIPS and Science Act, including support for the new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships;
• an increase of $365 million (a 36% increment) for NSF’s education and training programs.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) would see an increase of $2.5 billion or 5.6% to advance health science and clinical advances. Included are increases of:

• $226 million for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias;
• $150 million to help address the low rate of success of grant applications to the National Cancer Institute;
• $45 million for research related to opioids, methamphetamines and pain;
• $88 million to address health disparities;
• $40 million to address cybersecurity threats;
• $60 million to support the second phase of the BRAIN initiative;
• $65 million for NIH’s Common Fund;
• $17 million for NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Apprenticeships. The bill includes $285 million, an increase of $50 million for the Registered Apprenticeship program to expand apprenticeship opportunities, including in traditionally underrepresented fields.

Institutional Earmarks. According to a summary by Inside Higher Education, the bill includes $429,587,000 in earmarks for colleges and universities. These “community project funding” projects will pay for new facilities, laboratories, and academic programs, as well as the renovations and expansions of buildings on scores of campuses.

Although lawmakers face a December 23 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, there is still room for various twists and turns that could derail the bill’s progress.

Republicans in both the Senate and the House are upset over the total size of the bill, leading some to propose stripping out the earmarks, while others are intent on replacing the omnibus bill with a short-term extension. And there has been continued haggling over an amendment offered by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah aimed at keeping in place Trump-era border restrictions. One factor in the bill’s favor is that many legislators in both parties want to avoid the turmoil that a divided Congress could bring to the process next year.