After nine years of debate and delays, the federal Higher Education Act may be on the road to renewal. The law that governs most federal student-aid programs has been extended repeatedly since 1998, after the House and Senate could not agree on terms of a reauthorization bill.

Earlier this year, the Senate voted 95-0 to renew the law. Its provisions include boosting the ceiling for the maximum Pell Grant to $6,300 and making it easier for students to apply for federal financial aid.

“The Senate made education a priority again,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chair of the committee that crafted the measure. “Not since the G.I. Bill have we seen such a commitment to the nation’s young people and their futures.”

The Senate bill is a vast improvement from past versions of the reauthorization bill. For one, this latest edition does not include a “single definition” of a higher education institution. In earlier versions, that provision would have allowed for-profit institutions to be eligible for more student financial aid and other funding.

Earlier reauthorization bills also called for repeal of the “90/10 rule,” which requires that institutions receiving federal aid must have at least 10 percent of their income coming from nonfederal sources. A repeal would have amounted to another boon to for-profits. The “90/10 rule” remains in the Senate bill.

The next move on reauthorization is up to the House, which may take up the matter before the end of the year.

—Donald Feldstein