House to Take Up Higher Ed Act

The House is planning to finally take up its version of the long-delayed Higher Education Act reauthorization bill late next week.

Staffers say the floor vote on the College Opportunity and Affordability Act  is tentatively scheduled for Thursday. The Senate passed its version of a reauthorization bill last summer. The House bill, which was approved by the Education and Labor Committee in November, has many controversial provisions, such as publishing a "hall of shame" of colleges that raise tuition dramatically. It also creates several new scholarships, including one for veterans.

And it sets tighter rules for student lenders to prevent the kind of scandals that made headlines last year.

—Kim Clark