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HACU Member Advisory—June 21, 2004 HACU wins Senate support for amendment clarifying HACU won unanimous Senate support for an amendment to provide relief to HSIs regarding the burdensome 50-percent low-income assurance eligibility requirement for Title V grants. Please forward this notice to appropriate staff and Title V grant officers, as it may impact the Title V grant application process as early as FY 2005. HACU won a major, early victory in persuading the Senate to approve an amendment to a non-education bill that specifically addresses the 50-percent provision of Title V of the Higher Education Act. The amendment was attached to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) reauthorization bill. HACU applauds the leadership of Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico for introducing Senate Amendment 3346, which was unanimously approved by the Senate as an amendment to Senate Bill 2400 – the DoD reauthorization bill. The amendment was introduced with the critical support of Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Senator John Warner of Virginia and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan. Please join HACU in thanking these key Senators for their leadership on this issue. HACU will call on its membership for support when this issue is jointly considered by the House and Senate in Conference in coming months. The amendment would modify the definition of HSIs as it pertains to the 50-percent low-income assurance requirement as a means to reduce existing barriers for HSIs to compete for Title V grants within the Department of Education as well as other grant programs. Currently, the 50-percent provision requires HSIs to collect information that is not readily available and potentially costly to collect. In essence, the amendment approved by the Senate would allow colleges and universities to meet the 50-percent provision by statistical extrapolation from existing Census Bureau data or other appropriate federal or state sources. The burden of proof would be on the U.S. Department of Education, not HSIs. This amendment is a result of letters dispatched to HSIs from the U.S. Department of Education in April demanding detailed verification of the 50-percent requirement – even though this request had not previously been made of HSIs in past Title V grant cycles, and even though specific requirements for meeting 50-percent provisions never have been promulgated. Indeed, the last-minute appearance of this request for documentation on its face exceeded existing federal paperwork burden rules. This amendment will not address FY 2004 grant applicants, but will impact grant cycles for FY 2005 and beyond. HACU continues to advocate for the elimination of the 50-percent low-income assurance requirement as burdensome, unnecessary and against the spirit of the intent of Title V to provide targeted support to under-funded HSIs in service to the higher education needs of the country’s youngest and largest ethnic population. HACU also is advocating for the elimination of the two-year wait-out now required of HSIs between applications for five-year Title V grants. Several bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to eliminate both provisions. However, since most bills are being attached to pending legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which likely will not be voted on before next year, an amendment to the FY 2005 Defense Bill was considered a more expedient route to address this issue earlier. Please contact HACU’s Washington, D.C., offices at (202) 261-2085 for additional information (by email, please contact HACU Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Luis Maldonado at lmaldonado@hacu.net). HACU will continue to provide updates on this and other legislation of importance to the Hispanic higher education community via HACU Member Advisories and www.hacu.net. HACU Member Advisories are a service of the
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