Government Relations Update:

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• Government Relations Update
• Celebrating Our Victories,
• Meeting New Challenges
• Dr. Arnold L. Mitchem, President
• Heather Valentine, Vice President for Public
  Policy
• Kimberly Jones, Director of Congressional Affairs
• September 18, 2008

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OVERVIEW

• Higher Education Opportunity Act
• Increase in SSS Funding
• 2006 Talent Search/EOC Investigation
• On-Site Monitoring
• TRIO Advocacy

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• Celebrating Our Victories

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Higher Education Opportunity Act

• Reauthorized the Higher Education Act of 1965
  (HEA)
• Last reauthorized in 1998
• Signed into law on August 14, 2008
• Positive Changes to Benefit TRIO!

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Higher Education Opportunity Act (cont.)

• Kills the Upward Bound Absolute Priority,
  including the double-recruitment evaluation
• Creates an appeals process for unsuccessful TRIO
  grant applicants
• Allows branch campuses to apply for separate SSS
  grants
• Extends all TRIO grants to five years
• Protects Prior Experience from manipulation by
  defining the criteria in law

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Higher Education Opportunity Act (cont.)

• Increases the minimum TRIO grant to 200,000
• Protects students and programs in any future
  evaluations by
• disallowing over-recruitment and denial of
  services for the purposes of an evaluation
• requiring consideration of institutional review
  boards and the burdens placed on TRIO program
  participants and grantees

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Higher Education Opportunity Act (cont.)

• Allows TRIO grantees to target student
  populations with particular needs, including
• students with limited English proficiency
• disabled students
• homeless and foster youth
• disconnected youth
• Expands eligibility for Veterans Upward Bound to
  include
• older veterans who served before January 31, 1955
• federal reservists who served for more than 30
  days
• federal reservists called to action on or after
  September 11, 2001

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Higher Education Opportunity Act (cont.)

• In addition to changes that benefit TRIO, the
  legislation also
• creates a simplified, 2-page Free Application for
  Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application form
• allows students to receive Pell Grants
  year-round
• expands eligibility for the Academic
  Competitiveness and National SMART grant
  programs and
• creates greater educational access for servicemen
  and women and their families through deferred and
  interest-free loans.

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HEA Negotiated Rulemaking

• Brings together stakeholders to craft new
  regulations and generally achieve a consensus.
• Likely to begin in February 2009
• Upcoming Public Meetings
• September 19, 2008, at Texas Christian
  University, Fort Worth, Texas
• September 29, 2008, at the University of Rhode
  Island, Providence Campus, Paff Auditorium,
  Providence, Rhode Island
• October 2, 2008, at Pepperdine University,
  Malibu, California
• October 6, 2008 at Johnson C. Smith University,
  Charlotte, North Carolina
• October 8, 2008, at the U.S. Department of
  Education, 8th Floor Conference Center, 1990 K
  Street, N.W., Washington, DC
• October 15, 2008 at Cuyahoga Community College,
  Cleveland, Ohio
• The Department will publish more details about
  these meetings and the
• negotiated rulemaking in the coming weeks. See
  their website at
• http//www.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.
  html.

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Increase in SSS Funding

• Department of Education allocated a 5.25
  increase over 2007-2008 funding for 2008-2009.
• What does this mean?
• Increase in number of funded SSS projects

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2006 Talent Search/EOC Investigation

• At least 17 institutions denied funding as a
  result of miscalculation of prior experience
  points
• Investigation launched by inquiry of 15 Senators
• Sponsors Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and
  Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Signatories Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria
  Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY),
  John Cornyn (R-TX), Larry Craig (R-ID), Mike
  Crapo (R-ID), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Dianne
  Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mark
  Pryor (D-AR), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Olympia
  Snowe (R-ME), and John Sununu (R-NH).

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2006 Talent Search/EOC Investigation (cont.)

• Office of the Inspector General Report
• Overall Findings
• OPE deviated from its own regulations in awarding
  prior experience points
• OPE made execution errors in assessing prior
  experience

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2006 Talent Search/EOC Investigation (cont.)

• What Happens Next?
• Inspector General recommendations
• No partial prior experience points
• No prior experience points for years that
  grantees did not meet minimum program
  requirements
• Development of quality assurance process
• More thorough documentation to support
  calculations
• OPE must develop a corrective action plan
• What Does All This Mean?
• More stringent review of grant applications
• The letter of the law will control

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• Meeting New Challenges

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Appropriations

• TRIO level-funded since FY2005 at 828.2 million
• Presidents FY2009 Request
• 828.2 million (level funding)
• NOTE This figure does not include 57 million
  for Upward Bound programs funded through H.R.
  2669
• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
• 838.2 million (1.2 increase of 10 million)
• House Appropriations Subcommittee
• 858 million (3.6 increase of 29.8 million)

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On-Site Monitoring

• Contract awarded to American Institutes for
  Research (AIR) to conduct on-site and virtual
  monitoring of TRIO projects
• 45 institutions and 160 projects to be monitored
• Selected via OPE Monitoring Index
• accreditation
• grant funding levels
• earmarks and matching grant funds
• Institutions will be notified approximately six
  weeks beforehand. (No advance list.)

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How can we meet these challenges?

• TRIO ADVOCACY

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Why Should I Get Involved?

• Now is the time! With the November elections
  around the corner, Members of Congress are
  spending more time in their home states and
  districts.
• Your opinion counts. Your elected officials are
  there to serve you. You vote for them, you rally
  support for or against them.
• You are the experts. You work directly with
  students, families, educators, and others in your
  local community. You see the benefits of TRIO
  and the impact of federal decisions firsthand.
• Your local efforts have a national impact. The
  national TRIO lobbying efforts are only as
  effective as the efforts of local TRIO programs.
  COE depends on you to reach out to your officials
  and let them know that TRIO works!

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How Do I Get Involved?

• There are many different ways to get involved in
• grassroots advocacy
• calling or writing your elected officials
• face-to-face meetings with your legislators
• taking part in local events at which legislators
  will be present (e.g., town hall meetings, open
  forums, etc.)
• inviting the media and elected officials to visit
  your TRIO program
• and much more!

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TRIO and the 2008 Elections

• With the upcoming November elections, the
• Government Relations team will be further
• enhancing its offerings through
• Weekly Conference Calls
• GR Webinars
• Advocacy materials targeted towards educating
  candidates for political office

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• Please remember COE works for you to ensure the
  advancement of TRIO and other college access
  programs at the Federal and local levels.

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• Questions
• and
• Answers

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COE Government Relations

• Heather Valentine
• Vice President for Public Policy
• E-mail heather.valentine_at_coenet.us
• Kimberly Jones
• Director of Congressional Affairs
• E-mail kimberly.jones_at_coenet.us
• Heath Alexander
• Director of Public and Private Partnerships
• E-mail heath.alexander_at_coenet.us
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]