Hurricane-Relief Bill With $36-Million for Colleges and Students Awaits Bush's Signature

By STEPHEN BURD

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The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously approved a bill that would provide colleges with up to $36-million more in federal financial aid to help support students who have been affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation (HR 3863) earlier in the week (The Chronicle, September 28). President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.

Under the bill, the funds would come from three existing aid programs: Federal Work-Study, Perkins Loans, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Every year some colleges that participate in those campus-based programs receive more money than they need and are required to return those funds to the Education Department. The legislation would authorize the secretary of education to send the excess funds to colleges in the Gulf Coast region that were damaged by the hurricanes, as well as to institutions that enroll displaced students.

In addition, colleges that received the money would not be required to match a portion of it, as institutions normally must do when obtaining funds from the three campus-based aid programs. For example, colleges are typically required to match 25 percent of the work-study funds they receive.

College lobbyists applauded the bill, saying the additional aid was needed to help pay the living expenses of students who have relocated to new campuses. Even though many colleges are not charging tuition to students they have taken in, the students are generally still responsible for their own housing and books, as well as for paying other costs, such as transportation and food.

The higher-education advocates also praised the legislation for directing some of the aid to the Gulf Coast colleges that were forced to close temporarily as a result of Hurricane Katrina and to others that might be forced to remain closed for a time because of Hurricane Rita. If the bill is enacted, the institutions would be able to use the money to help students who otherwise might not be able to return to college because of hurricane-related financial problems.

The Senate approved the bill just in time. The legislation had to be passed before October 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, when the department would have been required to return the excess aid dollars to the U.S. Treasury.

College lobbyists had pushed the Senate to approve the bill before the deadline.

"It is urgent that the Senate pass this important legislation before the end of the fiscal year so that the opportunity to assist these struggling students and institutions is not missed," David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, wrote in a letter the group sent on Thursday to Senate leaders on behalf of itself and 12 other higher-education associations.

• House Passes Hurricane-Relief Bill With Up to $36-Million for Colleges and Students (9/28/2005)

• Federal Research Agencies Promise Money and Extensions for Scientists Displaced by Katrina (9/16/2005)

• House Approves Bill That Would Allow Students Displaced by Hurricane to Keep All Federal Grant Aid (9/9/2005)