Dive Brief:

• President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget request includes seven key higher education elements, including his free community college proposal, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
• The president proposes to tie maximum Pell Grant awards to inflation, simplify the Free Application for Student Aid, simplify income-driven student loan repayments, and increase funding for TRIO programs aimed at low-income, disabled, and first-generation college students.
• The budget proposal also includes increased funding for the First in the World program, which aims to increase postsecondary school completion rates, and $200 million for the proposed American Technical Training Fund to train low-wage workers for middle-class, hard-to-fill jobs.

Dive Insight:

While Republicans in Congress are likely to oppose many of Obama’s higher ed proposals, there may be some common ground on at least two ideas. One priority of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the chairman of the Senate’s education committee, is to simplify the federal student aid application. Also, Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is expressing support for making the costs and outcomes of colleges more transparent, which is what Obama’s planned college ratings system, which needs funding in the 2016 budget, would do.