In other
developments, groups call on additional support for research, ACE and AAU
release antitrust issue brief
With both the
House and Senate back at work this week, attention has turned to a potential fifth
coronavirus stimulus bill. The House passed its measure—the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus
Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act—on May 15, a bill Senate GOP leaders called “dead
on arrival.” However, a compromise is likely to be hammered out in late June or
July
In a
letter to the Senate last week, ACE and 83 other
higher education associations requested an additional $46.6 billion to support
students and colleges and universities struggling to deal with
staggering losses that far outstrip the $14
billion appropriated for higher education in the
fourth emergency spending bill, the CARES Act.
The HEROES
Act includes $90 billion for a State Fiscal
Stabilization Fund that governors can apply for and distribute, with the largest
share—65 percent—going to K-12 schools. Public colleges and universities would
receive 30 percent, or approximately $27 billion, of this pot, while 5 percent
could be distributed at the state’s discretion. The bill also includes an
additional $7 billion for private nonprofit colleges and universities, $1.7
billion for minority serving institutions and $1.4 billion for institutions
with “unmet needs,” for a total of about $37 billion for higher education.
The letter to the
Senate details why $46.6 billion is required to help campuses address their near-term
financial needs, including increased student aid due to declining family
incomes, and revenue losses stemming from enrollment declines and closures of
campus facilities that provide auxiliary services. As summer and the 2020-21 academic
year approach, even greater losses are expected—recent surveys indicate that
the $46.6 billion estimate is far too low.
The groups are
asking for the funds to be distributed differently than in both the HEROES Act
and the last stimulus bill, the CARES Act. Given the unreliability of states
distributing aid as Congress intends, they would like to maintain the CARES Act
distribution system of sending money directly to the institutions—with the
Department of Education overseeing the process—but with greater institutional
flexibility in how it’s used to avoid some of the confusion and calamity of the
CARES Act implementation.
Other COVID-19
Developments
Congress must
prioritize research funding in the next COVID-19 bill:
The presidents of
ACE, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and
Land-grant Universities, and the Association of American Medical Colleges wrote to Senate leaders last week urging them
to provide at least $26 billion for research in the next COVID-19 relief
measure. This funding would help mitigate the harmful impacts to the nation’s
research enterprise, including disruptions, delays, and indefinite shutdowns of
some federally funded research; and extraordinary strains on the research
workforce that potentially put the nation at risk. This letter renews an
earlier request the associations made last month.
ACE, AAU release antitrust issue brief:
As higher
education leaders continue to talk with colleagues and professional
associations about urgent matters arising from COVID-19, ACE and the Association
of American Universities have prepared an issue brief to help in the navigation of
antitrust laws. The pandemic has raised questions and concerns about topics
such as tuition refunds and competition for students in the context of possible
fall enrollment/tuition shortfalls that may prompt discussions that have
potential antitrust implications. This issue brief offers a primer about
whether, when, and how antitrust considerations should factor into
information-sharing and other collaborative activities during the coming
months.