We have a FY2016 federal budget!
An agreement on the top-line budget number was reached in late October, and Congress finalized and passed the FY2016 budget on Friday, December 18. President Obama signed the bill later that day. A few highlights:
Education/student aid programs
- Raises the maximum Pell grant by $140, to $5,915, in the 2016-17 academic year
- Increases TRIO by $60 million (7.1%)
- Increases GEARUP by $21 million (7%)
Research funding
- Increases funding for NIH by $2 billion (6.5%), the largest single increase for the agency in over a decade
- Increases funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative by $25 million (7.7%)
- Increases funding for the Department of Energy Office of Science by $279 million (5.5%)
- Increases funding for the National Science Foundation by $119 million (1.6%)
Vice President of Research Brian Herman issued a press release praising Congress's investment in research.
Important programs that were cut in either House or Senate bills or both earlier this year were restored. For example, the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, the Institute of Education Sciences, Title VI International Education, and Health Resources Services Administration Health Professions were restored to FY2015 levels. Unfortunately, the First in the World Program did not receive any funding.
Tax bill benefits students
A tax bill also passed last week that makes permanent some tax benefits for students and universities that were set to expire. For example:
- The American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides low and middle-income families with an annual tax credit of up to $2,500 per student for college expenses
- The IRA charitable rollover tax deduction
- The R&D tax credit, which benefits U.S. industries seeking to conduct research
Further, the legislation extends the tuition and expenses deduction through 2016.
Perkins Loan Extension
Congress also passed legislation to extend the Perkins Loan program for two years. Authorization for this campus-based student aid program expired at the end of September. The details of the extension bill are not ideal, as it limits graduate student participation and mandates that new Perkins recipients exhaust unsubsidized Stafford loans before taking Perkins. However, enactment keeps the program alive and will allow Congress to more thoroughly consider the program in the context of the larger Higher Education Act.
State of the Union
President Obama delivers his last State of the Union on January 12 and will set the framework of the FY2017 budget and his final year in office.