A budget compromise would slightly increase funding for the National Institutes of Health and change eligibility for the largest federal grant program for college students.
To win Republican senators' support, letter opposing new Defense Department policies on tuition assistance was changed to eliminate references to for-profit colleges as "subpar" institutions.
Community colleges struggle to serve a growing share of disadvantaged students, report finds, while public funding skews toward four-year institutions.
Historically black colleges urge Education Department to reconsider changes to some student loan criteria, and for-profit colleges and student advocates gear up for rewrite of "gainful employment" regulation.
Education Department will delay enforcing a rule that requires states to submit evidence that colleges are authorized to operate within their borders -- and that could end colleges' aid eligibility if states don't do so.
As Congressional Democrats argue in favor of extending the current interest rate on subsidized student loans, House Republicans in committee back a bill that would overhaul how those rates are determined.
When President Obama's budget proposal emerges today, it is expected to include a proposal for a market-based student loan interest rate, putting him at odds with student advocates who were former allies.
