Mr. President, I speak today in support of passage of the Higher Education Act of 2007.

Last week, the Senate took an important step toward increasing access to higher education for low income students by passing the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 which would increase student aid by approximately $17 billion dollars by cutting Federal subsidies to lenders and banks. Today, the Senate expands on last week’s important work by passing the Higher Education Act of 2007, which reauthorizes programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965, including Title II teacher education programs and Title IV student aid programs.

Many students today dream of going to college, but face hurdles to making that dream a reality, including financial hurdles, which for many low income students, can become insurmountable. This legislation helps students make their dreams of going to college a reality by reauthorizing a number of important programs that I support, including the Pell grant program, TRIO, GEAR UP, and LEAP. These programs seek to reduce the financial and college preparation barriers that many students face when applying to and attending college.

Higher education is one of the most important investments our Federal government can make and Congress created need-based student financial aid programs to ensure that individuals from low-income families are not denied post secondary education because they cannot afford it. I am deeply concerned about the emergence of a widening educational gap between rich and poor. Statistics illustrate that students from low income families are pursuing post-secondary education at a much slower rate than individuals from middle and upper income families.

Increasing the maximum award for Pell grants can help in closing the gap between college attendance rates of low income students and students from middle and upper income families. I have led and supported many efforts to increase the maximum Pell grant award in recent years, including earlier this year when I joined with Senators Kennedy, Collins, and Coleman in leading letters to the Senate Budget and Appropriations supporting the highest possible increase in the maximum Pell grant award. I am pleased that the Higher Education Act of 2007 increases the authorized maximum for Pell grants to $6,300 by the 2011-12 academic year and I will continue to work with my colleagues to push for fiscally responsible increases in the Pell grant program in the coming years.

This legislation also makes important changes to the Title II, Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program to better train and prepare teachers for working in our nation’s classrooms. Access to high-quality teachers is a key determinant in student academic success at the elementary and secondary level. The provisions in this legislation that promote mentoring and training new teachers through residency programs will help to ensure that new teachers entering our nation’s schools are better prepared and receive the support they need during their beginning years of teaching.

I was also pleased that the Committee accepted language into the manager’s package to ensure that the grants for training of teachers will promote a wide range of teaching skills, including measuring students on different forms of assessment, such as performance-based measures, student portfolios, and formative assessments. In an era of increased accountability at the local, state, and federal level, we need to do all we can to promote more responsible and accurate assessment of students in our K-12 schools.

I remain concerned about the increased use of high-stakes standardized testing at the K-12 level, including using high-stakes standardized tests to make decisions regarding school accountability. By broadening the definition of student learning and teaching skills as this new Title II language does, we can better ensure that teachers are trained to more accurately and responsibly measure student achievement through alternatives to high-stakes standardized testing.

This bill also takes important steps toward addressing the abuses in the student loan industry by requiring lenders, banks, and universities to provide more disclosure to students before these students take out education loans. The bill also prohibits campus employees from receiving gifts of more than nominal value from lenders or banks. I was pleased to cosponsor Senator Kennedy’s Student Loan Sunshine Act earlier this year and support the inclusion of those legislative provisions in this reauthorization bill.

The bill also includes language based on previous legislation I introduced that defines the terms “different campus” and “different population” for purposes of administering the Federal TRIO program. I have long supported increased funding for TRIO programs which provide education outreach services and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds as they pursue higher education. The language included in this bill ensures that higher education institutions with branch campuses geographically apart from each other can compete on equal footing for the important TRIO grants.

I am concerned that this bill may not adequately protect the privacy of individuals whose information is contained in federal and state databases. Almost a year ago, I wrote to the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education regarding the Commission’s first draft report which contained language proposing the creation of a national student unit record tracking system and I questioned whether such a system, if created, could adequately protect the privacy interests of the students it would be tracking. The bill, while purporting to prohibit such systems, exempts any existing data systems that are used to operate programs authorized by the Act, as well as any successor systems. Moreover, while the bill includes provisions to restrict access to the National Student Loan Data System, it includes no similar provisions for other federal databases.

The bill also includes a pilot grant program to develop state-level postsecondary student data systems in five states. Grant recipients must comply with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which prohibits certain policies and practices relating to disclosure of information; however, I believe additional protections may be necessary to ensure individual privacy. I plan to work with my colleagues on these matters as the bill moves forward.

Mr. President, the Higher Education Act of 1965 was one of the key Great Society programs that sought to extend the opportunity to pursue higher education to Americans of all backgrounds, regardless of their economic circumstances. With Senate passage of both the Higher Education Act today and the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 last week, we have acted to continue and expand upon these essential college access programs. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming weeks and years to continue to support and strengthen higher education programs. In an increasingly global and competitive 21st century, ensuring access to higher education for all Americans who wish to pursue it must remain a priority in Congress for many years to come.