[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 130 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORT OF THE 21ST CENTURY STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT 
                              ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM F. GOODLING

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 25, 1997

  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the 
leadership efforts of Mr. McKeon in moving the Department's management 
of the student aid delivery system into the 21st century. After 18 
hearings on the upcoming authorization of the Higher Education Act, it 
is safe to say that there is a clear consensus on the need for improved 
management of the student aid delivery system, except in the minds of 
the people currently managing those systems.
  Currently, the Department of Education has a dozen or so computer 
systems and contracts which aid in the delivery of more than $40 
billion in student financial aid every year. Timely delivery of these 
funds are vital to ensuring that every American has the ability to 
pursue a postsecondary education. We all recognize that this is no 
small task. However, the concerns that the Department's computer 
systems are out of date, vulnerable to fraud and abuse, and 
inordinately expensive to run cannot be ignored. The General Accounting 
Office, the Department's inspector general, the Advisory Committee on 
Student Financial Assistance, and a majority of the higher education 
community have all called for a fundamental restructuring of the way 
the Department manages the current student aid delivery system. Yet 
incredulously, the Department seems to think that it is on the road to 
becoming the Microsoft of the higher education community, at least that 
was the opinion of one senior Department of Education official at a 
hearing before Mr. McKeon's subcommittee.
  It's time to stop talking about delivery system improvements and 
system integration and to start doing something about it. Last year, 
students and parents suffered through horrendous processing delays when 
the Federal student aid application processing system failed. Earlier 
this year, students wishing to consolidate their student loans 
submitted applications only to encounter lengthy delays in processing. 
Now students wishing to consolidate their student loans are told not to 
bother applying, since the Department has shut down the entire 
processing system. And just last week, our colleague, Representative 
Horn, chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Management, 
Information and Technology, gave the Department a failing grade for its 
efforts to address the year 2000 computer changes needed to keep the 
financial aid systems running after the Office of Management and Budget 
included the Education Department on its list of troubled agencies. 
Less than 2 months ago, in testimony at our system modernization 
hearing, a Department official stated ``I would probably disagree if 
you say there are major bugs or problems because we have been able to 
continue to keep the trains running.'' Well, the train just stopped and 
it's the students who suffer as a result of the poor system management 
structure currently in place at the Department.
  It's clear to me and the others here with us today that it is time to 
try a new approach. The bill that Mr. McKeon has put together gets 
things moving in the rights direction. I sincerely hope that the 
Department of Education sees this effort as a positive step forward 
which will benefit students, parents, and institutions of higher 
education across the country.

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