what is the higher education act of 1965 
the higher education act of 1965 hea is a law designed to provide financial assistance to post secondary school students and to strengthen the educational resources of the colleges and universities of the united states the hea increased the amount of federal money given to post secondary school institutions developed scholarship programs provided low interest loans to students and founded the national teachers corps 12part of president lyndon b johnson s great society domestic agenda the act was signed into law on nov 8 1965 and has been reauthorized by congress a number of times since 3the act expired in 2013 and congress has been unable to reach an agreement on its reauthorization 4 however it has been running on temporary extensions since then with now familiar programs including pell grants and stafford loans remaining available 5understanding the higher education act of 1965president johnson advocated the passage of the higher education act with the stated goals of increasing educational opportunities for the children of lower and middle income families bolstering cash strapped small colleges and improving library resources at higher education institutions 6on the 50th anniversary of its passage in 2015 the national education association nea lauded the program for making a college education affordable to millions of smart low and middle income americans by establishing need based grants work study opportunities and federal student loans 7it also enabled the establishment of a program called trio which assists educational programs designed to reach low income and disadvantaged students from middle school through graduate school 7the act has the following titles 2title i provides funding for extension and continuing education programs title ii authorizes grants for the purpose of recruiting educating and training teachers title iii contains provisions for strengthening developing institutions title iv provides student assistance through scholarships low interest loans and work study programs title v contains provisions for improving the quality of teaching title vi contains provisions for improving undergraduate instruction title vii contains provisions for graduate education programs and innovation in post secondary school education title viii contains provisions focused on a variety of post secondary and graduate level educational topics the higher education act of 1965 has undergone multiple reauthorizations and amendments including the addition of new title initiatives 2the total amount of student debt owed by americans pell grants once covered about up to 50 of college costs that s down to 30 in the 2022 2023 school year 8910