Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the renewal of the Higher Education Act. The bill (H.R. 4137 for those of you keeping track) seeks to help students gain access to financial aid (such as raising the Pell grant to $9000 and making it available year round) and address a variety of concerns surrounding lending as well as other college issues.

Government bills are kind of fascinating creatures to study. Consider the idea of raising the Pell grant to $9,000. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But I wonder if that’s the best way to handle it. Pinning the Pell grant to inflation or a financial index might make more sense along with increasing its limit. Because once it goes to $9K, it stays there, but we all know that the costs of education won’t stay the same. So, eventually we’ll need another bill to raise Pell grants again, which means going through the whole congressional process once more. Perhaps that’s intended, and maybe it’s worthwhile. I’m not sure though.

Additionally, the bill would ensure that Pell grants can be earned year-round. You can bet lots of online education providers lobbied for this part. Making Pell grants available year-round means that the money is more easily accessible, especially for students in online and other programs not following the traditional two-semester system. If I remember right, online students can earn these Federal dollars since the demise of the 50/50 rule. So for many students enrolling into online programs, the Pell grant money would now be available to them, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

Currently, this bill is hanging out in the Senate. You can keep track with this link to the GovTrack.us system. Hopefully, this bill will find its way to the President’s desk.