Senators Introduce Bipartisan FUTURE Act Amendment to Simplify FAFSA, Streamline Repayment, and Permanently Fund HBCUs and MSIs

WASHINGTON (December 4, 2019) — Yesterday, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander and Ranking Member Patty Murray, along with Senators Richard Burr, Chris Coons, Doug Jones, and Tim Scott, introduced an amendment to the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act to permanently fund Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), simplify the FAFSA process, and streamline loan repayment.

Emily Bouck West, Deputy Executive Director of Higher Learning Advocates, made the following statement to express Higher Learning Advocates’ support of this bipartisan amendment.

“Higher Learning Advocates applauds Senators Alexander, Murray, Burr, Coons, Jones, and Tim Scott for the bipartisan agreement to continue to annually fund HBCUs and MSIs and to streamline and simplify the FAFSA process and loan repayment. These critical reforms have the opportunity to improve the federal student aid process for today’s students, and we urge Congress to pass the FUTURE Act in a swift and bipartisan manner. 

This important milestone is an encouraging signal that our nation’s policymakers can and will continue to put the needs of today’s students first by furthering their work together to pass a bipartisan comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act—a bill long overdue for an update to match the realities that today’s students face on their journeys to and through higher education.”

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Higher Learning Advocates is a bipartisan non-profit organization that advocates for solutions to break down systemic barriers and support the success of today’s students in their pursuit of education and skills development beyond high school. We advance federal policies that create transparent pathways to success, incentivize innovation, protect students and taxpayers, and improve student outcomes.