The GIVE Act
The GIVE Act (Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act), HR 1388, was approved by the House Education and Labor Committee last week. The legislation passed with strong bipartisan support, and is part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to encouraging Americans to be more involved in their communities.
The bill includes financial aid incentives for high school students to volunteer, including a $500 award that can be applied to higher education costs. Visit the committee online for more details. The full House will consider the bill this week, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee will markup a similar bill (S 277) on Wednesday, March 18.
New Guide for Servicemembers
The American Council on Education (ACE) has released a new resource for members of the military pursuing higher education. The guide, Understanding Your Military Transcript and ACE Credit Recommendations, offers servicemembers and veterans an easy way to navigate the transfer of credit process, and to understand the various issues that affect transfer of military credit. The guide is available free from the ACE web site.
The Higher Education Opportunity Act that became law last fall included several provisions regarding education benefits for members of the military. Read NACAC’s issue brief on those provisions.
Congressional Action on FY 2010 Budget
Budget hearings have begun in both chambers on the FY 2010 budget. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before the House Budget Committee on the Obama Administration’s budget goals for the Department of Education. Visit the Department online to read Secretary Duncan’s remarks, or visit the committee online to view a webcast of the hearing.
The next step is markup, in which the budget committees in each chamber draft their own budget resolutions. Markup is expected in the House as early as next week, even though program-level details of President Obama’s budget request will not be available until April. Once a budget resolution is completed, appropriations committees use the resolution as a blueprint for generating funding levels for individual federal programs. To follow the FY 2010 budget and appropriations process, visits NACAC’s web page devoted to the subject.
FY 2009 Omnibus Complete
President Obama signed the FY09 omnibus appropriations bill into law on March 11. The bill included FY09 increases for some key NACAC priority programs, including $10 million for GEAR UP, $20 million for TRIO, and $4 million for ESSCP (the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program). Visit NACAC’s recommendations page to see how funding levels for various programs in this bill compares to NACAC’s request and funding in previous years.
Find legislation in your state that affects your job and the students you serve: NACAC’s State Legislative Portal.
Please contact NACAC staff at legislative@nacacnet.org with any questions.