Trends and Issues

Fed Up Initiative Draws Huge Response

The student aid community has blanketed Congressman Howard P. (Buck) McKeon and Congresswoman Patsy Mink with more than 3,000 responses to their Fed Up Initiative. The initiative began in May 2001, when Representatives McKeon (R-California) and Mink (D-Hawaii), from the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness (which is part of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce), launched the Fed Up Initiative. This project was originated to solicit ideas from those involved in federal student financial aid about federal regulations that should be revised or removed.

In a speech conducted at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators conference in July 2001, McKeon said that he plans to introduce legislation this fall to simplify the rules that govern the federal financial aid programs. He said that he expected this to be a first step to set the tone for issues to be dealt with in the next Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The Fed Up Initiative, incidentally, has received the support of Secretary of Education Rod Paige, who has said that the Department of Education will conduct its own review of the federal regulations to identify changes that can be made without new legislation.

More Information
For more information about the Fed Up Initiative, visit the Fed Up website at http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/107th/education/fedup/index.htm.

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