Connie Mack: “I rise today to address a situation resulting from the Department of Education's interpretation of section 435 of the…”

“I rise today to address a situation resulting from the Department of Education's interpretation of section 435 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 [HEA] which has adversely impacted many schools in Florida and across the country. In 1990, Congress amended the act to prohibit institutions from continuing their participation in the Federal Family Education Loan [FFEL] Program if their cohort default rate is equal to or above the threshold percentage for the 3 consecutive years ``for which data is available.'' Along similar lines, this year Congress passed additional legislation which required that any school terminated from the FFEL program will no longer be eligible to receive Pell Grants for its students. However, the Department of Education has taken the position that this law will be enforced using default rate data for years 1991, 1992, and 1993. Schools have already received their prepublished 1994 rates, many which are below the current threshold requirement, and some are even half of what they were in years prior. Despite this achievement, the Department has terminated or is currently terminating schools based on their 1991, 1992, and 1993 rate--not on their 1994 rate--because the Department does not consider the 1994 rate to be ``available'' until it is published.”