In the News:

Appropriations Committees Continue Markups
From the Association of American Universities | June 28, 2013

Alexander: Still Time for Congress to Avoid Student Loan Interest Rate Hike
From the Office of Sen. Lamar Alexander | July 1, 2013

Committees Offer Detailed Plan to Repeal SGR
By Jessica Zigmond | Modern Healthcare | June 28, 2013

AAMC Expresses Concern about FY 2014 IPPS Proposed Rule HAC Reductions Program and DSH Payment Formula Changes
From the Association of American Medical Colleges | June 28, 2013

Sen. Warren Spars with Student Lender Sallie Mae Over Loan Rates
By Peter Schroeder | The Hill | June 30, 2013

Some Proposals to Remake Student Aid Would Harm College Access, Panel Warns
By Kelly Field | Chronicle of Higher Education | July 1, 2013

Education Department Faces Renewed Criticism Over Colleges' Financial-Health Scores
By Goldie Blumenstyk | Chronicle of Higher Education | July 1, 2013

A Statement for Diversity
By Scott Jaschik | Inside Higher Ed | July 1, 2013

National Science Board Calls for Nominations for New Members
From the National Science Foundation | June 28, 2013

NIST Proposes Establishment of Cybersecurity Research and Development Center
From the Council of Graduate Schools | June 28, 2013

Final Rule on Birth Control
By Libby A. Nelson | Inside Higher Ed | July 1, 2013

Appropriations Committees Continue Markups  

From the Association of American Universities | June 28, 2013

The Senate Appropriations Committee this week continued to work through its FY14 funding bills, with markup of the Energy-Water bill in subcommittee and full committee, and subcommittee markup of the Transportation-HUD bill. In addition, the full committee approved the FY14 Agriculture and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bills on June 20, as well as the panel's subcommittee funding allocations, the so-called 302(b)'s.

The House has taken some action on six of its 12 FY14 appropriations bills. The House has passed the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security bills; the full Appropriations Committee has also approved the Agriculture, Defense, Energy-Water, and Transportation-HUD bills.

-- AAU Joins Other Organizations in Urging Support for ARPA-E        

Earlier in the week the Association of American Universities (AAU) joined with over fifty other organizations -- including scientific societies, industry groups, trade associations, and individual universities -- in sending a letter to key Senate and House leaders and Appropriations Committee members urging support for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The letter praised the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee for the funding level provided in their Energy-Water bill for ARPA-E while noting that the $50 million approved on June 26 by the House Appropriations Committee "would severely limit" the ability of ARPA-E to carry out "its extremely important work on current and future programmatic initiatives."

-- AAU Issues Statement on DOE Office of Science and ARPA-E Funding  

AAU on June 27 issued a statement commending Senate appropriators for providing significant funding increases for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science and ARPA-E in their FY14 Energy and Water appropriations bill. "We believe these investments are vital to the nation's ability to maintain its global scientific leadership, to develop diverse and sustainable sources of energy, and to improve health and environmental quality," AAU President Hunter Rawlings said in the statement.

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Alexander: Still Time for Congress to Avoid Student Loan Interest Rate Hike

From the Office of Sen. Lamar Alexander | July 1, 2013

The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee said that if Congress acts next week, there is still time to avoid today's automatic increase in interest rates from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on 40 percent of all new government loans for college students. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said that today's rate hike "is completely unnecessary and constitutes congressional malpractice by some Democratic senators who are stubbornly holding out for a short-term political fix that only helps a minority of students." Alexander said that the Senate next week should adopt instead a bipartisan plan offered by six senators that "would save students billions of dollars in interest payments and cut rates nearly in half for all new undergraduate student loans. Why should Congress adopt a short-term political fix that only helps 40 percent of students when there is an obvious permanent solution that will reduce interest rates for every one of the 18 million new loans that 11 million students will take out this year?" MORE

Committees Offer Detailed Plan to Repeal SGR

By Jessica Zigmond | Modern Healthcare | June 28, 2013

Before taking off for the July 4 recess, the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees released a more detailed legislative framework to repeal Medicare's sustainable-growth rate (SGR) formula. On May 28, the Energy and Commerce committee released a draft bill and sought comment from stakeholders until June 10. The revised draft legislation unveiled Friday incorporates that feedback. The bill would repeal the troublesome formula used to calculate payments for Medicare-participating physicians and replace it with a fee-for-service system in which providers would develop quality measures. It would also allow providers the option of leaving the fee-for-service system for other care-delivery models. The latest version of the bill offers a few scenarios for updated payment models. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to the years-long battle of overturning the SGR is finding a way to pay for it. Friday's announcement from the two committees did not offer a funding solution . . . MORE

AAMC Expresses Concern about FY 2014 IPPS Proposed Rule HAC Reductions Program and DSH Payment Formula Changes

From the Association of American Medical Colleges | June 28, 2013

The [Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)] submitted a June 25 letter on the Medicare fiscal year (FY) 2014 hospital inpatient proposed rule, commenting on the methodology to change the disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment formula as required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The letter also expresses concerns about [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)] proposals to implement the Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HAC) Reductions Program in FY 2015 and its disproportional impact to teaching hospitals. While DSH payments were originally designed to compensate hospitals for the additional costs of treating uninsured patients, Congress changed the formula under the ACA to account for the increasing number of individuals who will be insured.  [The] AAMC urges CMS to ensure that all DSH payments and uncompensated care payments are accounted for in the Medicare rates and the CMS Medicare IPPS PRICER components on which MA plan payments are based. MORE

Sen. Warren Spars with Student Lender Sallie Mae Over Loan Rates

By Peter Schroeder | The Hill | June 30, 2013

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has picked a fight with the nation's largest private student loan provider. The liberal favorite and staunch consumer advocate spent much of the past week sparring with Sallie Mae, contending the lender enjoys sizeable government perks while sticking it to students with high interest rates. On Friday, Warren sent a letter to the CEO of the student lender, accusing Sallie Mae of "piling on" government supported benefits while reaping "big fees" from students. "If we are serious about investing in our future, we should help our students pay for their education -- not find ways to squeeze more profits from them. I believe it is time to align priorities in Washington with those of the American people," she added in her Friday letter. Meanwhile, Warren has been pushing her own student loan measure in her first piece of legislation since joining the Senate. Her bill would require the Federal Reserve to subsidize student loans for one year so they fall to the same low rate banks can borrow from the central bank, which is roughly 0.75 percent. MORE

Some Proposals to Remake Student Aid Would Harm College Access, Panel Warns

By Kelly Field | Chronicle of Higher Education | July 1, 2013

A key Congressional advisory committee is raising serious doubts about recent proposals for remaking the federal student-aid system. In a report released late Sunday night, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance urges lawmakers to give "special scrutiny" to five ideas that it says could "worsen inequality in college completion," including plans to tie student aid to completion rates and to replace Pell Grants with block grants to states. "These proposals disregard rising college expenses facing low-income students and the skyrocketing loan burden," according to the report, which highlights data on low-income black and Hispanic students. [The] report ... rejects the "austerity-inspired assumption" underlying some of the reports that any changes in the student-aid system must be budget-neutral, calling for increased spending on need-based aid. MORE

Education Department Faces Renewed Criticism Over Colleges' Financial-Health Scores

By Goldie Blumenstyk | Chronicle of Higher Education | July 1, 2013

Many private colleges, which contend the U.S. Department of Education continues to erroneously and inconsistently calculate a key measure of institutions' financial health, now say the department has been so "dismissive" of their two-year effort to work collaboratively to repair the process that they have no choice but to ask Congress to enact changes that the department won't. Officials at the association, known as Naicu, say they are frustrated by a letter from a top department official that fails to recognize any of the issues they raised and, as Ms. Flanagan said, is "very dismissive of the two years of work that we did" involving dozens of volunteers from colleges and accounting firms. The letter also suggests that the department has been withholding the release of the colleges' financial-health scores for the 2011 fiscal year -- despite a Freedom of Information Act request for that information that The Chronicle filed five months ago, after the department repeatedly delayed publishing the scores. MORE (subscription required)

A Statement for Diversity

By Scott Jaschik | Inside Higher Ed | July 1, 2013

Thirty-seven college associations on Sunday issued a joint statement on the importance of diversity in American higher education. "A diverse student body enables all students to have the transformational experience of interacting with their peers who have varied perspectives and come from different backgrounds. These experiences, which are highly valued by employers because of their importance in the workplace, also prepare students with the skills they need to live in an interconnected world and to be more engaged citizens. Our economic future, democracy, and global standing will suffer if the next generation is not ready to engage and work with people whose backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are different from their own," says the statement, published as an advertisement Sunday in The New York Times. The statement was issued in the wake of last week's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to return to a federal appeals court a challenge to an affirmative action policy in admissions at the University of Texas at Austin. MORE

National Science Board Calls for Nominations for New Members

From the National Science Foundation | June 28, 2013

The National Science Board (NSB) is seeking nominations for candidates to serve on the NSB for the years 2014-2020. All nominations will be given full consideration; the President of the United States nominates and appoints candidates to the Board. Nominations are open through July 29, 2013. The NSB is responsible for assembling and transmitting to the White House recommendations for appointment of new NSB Members from the various scientific, engineering, and educational organizations and societies. In its review of candidates, the Board applies the statutory eligibility requirements and also looks at demographics, balance among professional fields, active researchers, teachers and administrators, and industrial representation. MORE

NIST Proposes Establishment of Cybersecurity Research and Development Center

From the Council of Graduate Schools | June 28, 2013

On June 21st, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a notice that it intends to sponsor a Federally Funded Research and Development Center to facilitate public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies. The collaboration will include experts from industry, government and academia. Feedback on the proposed scope of the center's work is being accepted by NIST until July 22nd.

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Final Rule on Birth Control

By Libby A. Nelson | Inside Higher Ed | July 1, 2013

Religious colleges and other religious nonprofits will get more time to comply with new rules requiring insurance plans to cover contraception, and organizations that disagree with birth control on moral grounds won't have to pay for or promote access to employees' or students' birth control coverage, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday. But employees and students at religious colleges will still be able to get birth control fully covered by insurance with no co-pay, because insurance companies or third-party insurance administrators will be required to offer and pay for that coverage separately. When it issued a final rule Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services put out its last word -- at least for now -- on a controversy that has pitted some religious colleges, as well as Roman Catholic bishops, against the Obama administration's health-care overhaul. Colleges will now have until Jan. 1, 2014, to comply with the rule. MORE