Congressman Steve Russell has introduced a couple of bills this week in hopes to save taxpayers the cost of paying administrative fees to colleges and universities.
H. 3022 addresses the overhead or administrative fees that colleges and universities charge the federal government when receiving a discretionary grant from an agency. Russell claims colleges and universities are charging granting federal agencies an average of 52 percent on administrative fees for using the federal funds to conduct research.
“Why we allow institutions to charge the government to take the government’s grants no one can logically answer. H.R. 3022 will go a long way in ending this academic welfare, ensuring that research grants are used for their intended purpose and helping to free up taxpayer money that could be going toward paying off our $20 trillion national debt,” said Russell.
His other bill is H.R. 3023. It eliminates the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay reporting fees to educational institutions for servicing the G.I. Bill.
“The G.I. Bill is well-known as it has helped millions of veterans access education since its inception. What is not well-known is that educational institutions receive a $12 reporting fee per enrolled G.I. Bill veteran, and these fees amount to millions of dollars every year. President Trump’s budget proposal estimates the taxpayer will pay educational institutions more than $9 million in FY16, FY17, and FY18 just to accept G.I. Bill funds. The costs involved in servicing the G.I. Bill should be considered as the cost of doing business for participating educational institutions. Taxpayers should not have to pay these institutions millions of dollars more just to accept taxpayer money to educate veterans,” said Russell.
