Loan caps, accreditation overhaul among Trump's goals for Higher Education Act

The White House on Monday released its priorities for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), marking the first time the Trump administration has shared a broad higher ed policy agenda and echoing its budget blueprint, released last week.On its list are streamlining accreditation and organizing accreditors based on institutions' missions rather than geography; adding risk-sharing between colleges and students over federal aid; implementing reforms to income-based loan repayment; and capping parent and graduate student borrowing.It also asks Congress to pilot a "market-driven workforce development" program, to offer Pell Grants for short-term programs and to expand the Federal Work-Study program. The pieces could be falling into place for reauthorizing the HEA, which has not been overhauled since 2008 and is overdue for a rewrite. But similar efforts last year lost momentum, and another partisan stalemate is not out of the question. Among the movements so far in the direction of reauthorization: The House and Senate have both set up hearings with their respective education committees to discuss their HEA priorities; and each chamber last week put forth companion bipartisan legislation in support of student-level outcomes data collection.