Budget

With college lobbyists awaiting action on student loan reform, passage of 2010 spending bills get little attention. A quick review of what's in them.

Obama budget for 2011, to be released today, will call for raising maximum grant to $5,710 and making program an entitlement.

Obama administration details 2010 spending plan unveiled in February, which would increase and lock in Pell Grant funding and double spending on basic science over a decade.

Obama administration's proposed 2011 budget would add $3.3 billion for scientific research, including an extra $1 billion for the NIH.

Democrats' plan to consider health care legislation through "budget reconciliation" process has implications for student loan reform -- not all of them good.

With Congress set to take up health measure, Democrats strip community college funds, accountability provisions and more from loan overhaul.

With state budget shortfalls likely to hit $180 billion in 2011, the incoming governors -- a potentially record-size pool of brand-new state chiefs -- will have a lot to take on when they take office in January. Jobs and the economy have dwarfed all other campaign issues, and higher education -- despite its link to economic development -- is unlikely to be a focal point in this year’s elections.

INDIANAPOLIS -- One's perception of how widely colleges and universities have embraced the necessity and inevitability of fundamental transformative change -- in how the institutions educate students, how they finance themselves, etc. -- is likely to depend on which sorts of higher education conferences he or she attends.

WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders on Tuesday unveiled an omnibus spending bill to fund the government's operations for the 2011 fiscal year that they say would sustain the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550 (staving off a threatened cut by funding an existing shortfall) and boost funds for the National Institutes of Health by $750 million over the 2010 level.

Leading Democrat blasts for-profit colleges; U.S. affirms $5,500 maximum Pell Grant; no earmarks in 2011 and 2012.