Natural Disaster Student Aid Fairness Act

NATURAL DISASTER STUDENT AID FAIRNESS ACT

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Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to pass H.R. 3863, which would provide the Secretary of Education with the authority to reallocate campus-based aid program funds to institutions of higher education that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita, or that have enrolled affected students. The bill also extends the deadline by which funds have to be reallocated, as they are currently scheduled to expire on September 30.

In addition, this bill automatically waives institutional matching requirements for the Federal work-study, supplemental educational opportunity grant and Perkins loan funds for affected institutions that participate in these programs in the 2005-2006 academic year. As a result, affected institutions that have scarce resources will be able provide immediate assistance to their eligible students to enable them to meet their higher education expenses this year.

I am pleased that we are able to take this step to assist institutions and students that have been affected by the gulf hurricanes by redirecting program funds that would otherwise lapse. We continue to explore other ways in which to meet the immediate needs of affected institutions of higher education and their students.

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