National STEM Scholarship Database Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1051) to direct the Secretary of Education to establish and maintain a public website through which individuals may find a complete database of available scholarships, fellowships, and other programs of financial assistance in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I request that there be 5 legislative days during which Members may insert material relevant to H.R. 1050 into the Record, and I ask unanimous consent that Members be allowed to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief. This is an important piece of all of the work that we have to do to improve our science, engineering, technology and mathematics capability here in the United States. Specifically, this bill establishes a complete database of all available scholarships from public and private sources, fellowships, and other programs of financial assistance for the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The Act, specifically known as the National STEM Scholarship Database Act, directs the Secretary of Education to establish and maintain a public Web site through which individuals may find a complete database of available scholarships, fellowships and financial assistance.

The Secretary of Education will also, under this legislation, disseminate information about the database to secondary schools and to colleges and universities, institutions of higher education. It will serve as a one-stop shop for financial aid information for those who want to study in the STEM fields.

Now, it may be surprising to my colleagues that this doesn't already exist. But it does not. Although there are many things that we need to do to improve science and math teaching in elementary and secondary schools and in higher education, and encourage students toward science and technology fields, this is one important thing we can accomplish today.

We all know that higher education is expensive. In fact, many students are deterred from studying these important fields because of the cost.

Yet, at the same time, some of the opportunities for financial assistance go unused, and, students, however motivated they may be, often don't know where to start to look for financial assistance. Certainly in high school, school counselors are overloaded with typically 400 students each, and as a college student is trying to decide on a major and a specific field of engineering, for example, it's hard to know where to turn for financial assistance.

This simple straightforward database available through a Web site will greatly, I think, facilitate the student's ability to go into these STEM fields. It will serve all students at all levels as they are thinking about going into college, as they are thinking about choosing a major in college, as they are thinking about going to graduate school, as they are thinking about whether or not to teach in a science or engineering or mathematics area.

This is an important and straightforward piece of legislation that will assist our nation's students in studying science and math, and will assist our country in our efforts to be more competitive internationally.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Price, who is an original cosponsor of this legislation, along with many others from the Education Committee, from the Science Committee, and from elsewhere here in Congress.

And, with that, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, my colleague on the committee on Education and Labor, Mr. Hinojosa.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his support and also for pointing out that this has nothing to do with pleuropotent stem cells but has to do with what is generally known as STEM education, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

Mr. Speaker, I'm now pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois, my colleague on the Education Committee, Mr. Hare, who understands that financial assistance is necessary for nearly two- thirds of undergraduates and most graduate students, and anything we can do to help them take advantage of available financial aid will improve their lives and our society. Mr. Hare.

Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York, my colleague on the Committee on Education and Labor (Mrs. McCarthy), who also understands the importance of this legislation to individual students as well as to our economy at large.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

As I said earlier, it may come as a surprise to my colleagues that this single database where any student who might be interested in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics could go might, they might be surprised that it doesn't already exist. In fact, it doesn't.

This is straightforward legislation that will make it easier for students to pursue a line of study or one of a number of lines of study that are critically important not only for their personal development, but for our economy and our society, our international competitiveness, indeed, the future of our country.

This is only one piece of the many things that we need to do that you have heard from other speakers about this morning. It is a straightforward, simple thing that we can do, that is not expensive. If we could, through this inexpensive method, encourage eight or ten or twelve more students to go into science, that would be wonderful. Instead, I expect we will get hundreds, if not thousands, who will find their way into these critical fields because of the existence of a database that gives them a place to start as they look to their future.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of H.R. 1051, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1051, which is a bill to establish a public Web site through which individuals may find a database of available scholarships and fellowships and other programs of financial assistance for the study of science and technology and engineering and math.

Before I begin, I just want to commend the gentleman from New Jersey for introducing this piece of legislation and for his leadership in this area. I also want to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) for his leadership, as well as Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mrs. Biggert and others for their support of this bill itself.

I am a strong proponent, strong proponent of STEM education programs. Anything that Congress can do to strengthen interest in these fields is wholeheartedly welcome.

As a physician, I understand and appreciate the challenge that our Nation has in maintaining its preeminence in these fields. Encouraging our best and brightest and interested young people to choose this field of study is a positive step, and I believe this bill is a step in that direction.

As we continue to discuss new ideas for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it's important that we develop proposals that will ensure students are informed about their options for financial aid, both from the Federal Government and from the private sector. In fact, the House has already taken one step in that direction, included in H.R. 890, the Student Loan Sunshine Act, which passed last month, was a proposal that was offered by Representative Keller, that would make it easier for students to get information on their options for Federal financial aid.

This proposal would launch a single Web site for opportunities for financial aid in fellowships and scholarships being offered by any agency within the Federal Government.

This bill simply takes this idea one step further by making sure that information about scholarships and fellowships and other forms of private financial aid is readily available to students interested in pursuing their opportunities in education and science, technology, engineering and math. As we continue to examine proposals to increase America's competitiveness, it's helpful for us to equip students interested in pursuing careers in these fields with the information that they need that might assist them in financing their education.

For these reasons and others, I respectfully ask my colleagues to support H.R. 1051.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I'd like to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan, who has been pivotal in this area, in this field, Mr. Ehlers.

Mr. Speaker, I'm now pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good friend from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) who's been a leader in this field as well.

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to close and commend once again my good friend Mr. Holt for introducing this legislation and for moving this forward.

I think the discussion that we have had has been good. I think that the breadth of individuals that have signed on as cosponsors to this legislation, as well as the diversity of the background of those Members who have come to the floor today to speak on behalf of this legislation, give testimony to the importance of moving forward and having this kind of information available.

So I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1051.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the National STEM Scholarship Database Act, H.R. 1051. I thank my friend and fellow physicist, Congressman Rush Holt, for introducing this important legislation; and I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this excellent bill.

For several years, Congressman Holt and I have worked tirelessly to improve our Nation's math and science education. It has been wonderful to have a Member from the other party sharing my concern about the quality of math and science education in this country and the limited number of young people who are pursuing math and science-related degrees. In fact, I'm very pleased that Representative Holt and 115 other Members have joined the STEM Education Caucus that I founded in 2004.

Of course, I'm sure by now everyone knows that STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It's very important to make that clear, because tomorrow we'll be debating a few stem-cell issue bills on the floor, and this bill has nothing to do with that.

This year, an estimated 111,000 students in Michigan will graduate from high school and may face the pricey but critical investment in their future known as paying college tuition and fees. In Michigan, the average cost of tuition fees is about $6,200 per year at a 4-year public university and $13,250 at a 4-year private university, according to the Chronicles of Higher Education.

Unfortunately, data have shown that some students do not attend college or graduate school because they think they cannot afford it. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, science and engineering students who had taken out loans as undergraduates were more likely to indicate a cost-related reason for not applying to graduate school, compared to students who had never borrowed funds.

Unbeknownst to some students, significant financial aid resources are available. The Federal Government alone provided about $80 billion in student financial aid this fiscal year, with States providing almost $8 billion in additional financial aid. Also, the private sector provides significant financial aid resources.

The National STEM Scholarship Database Act will provide students with better information about available financial aid resources related to the STEM fields. It simply establishes a database to be accessed on the U.S. Department of Education's Website. I am very hopeful that this database will link students with available financial aid resources, and I particularly hope this will encourage more students to enter STEM- related careers by entering graduate schools related to the STEM fields.

This is an excellent bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I again thank Congressman Holt for his work on improving STEM education and urge all of our colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would like to thank my colleague from the Education Committee, Congressman Holt, for bringing this measure to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1051, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship Database Act. This legislation will help students become more competitive in science and math and allow them to find the scholarship that is right for them.

Mr. Speaker, in the audience today we have many young students. This is the future of this country. And we have to do everything that we can to encourage our young people to go into the sciences, math, and engineering. Last year the Education Committee went to China and we spoke with many students there and the minister of education. And their effort, and certainly on what they are pushing their young people to do, is to go into the math and sciences.

This country has an obligation to give our young people the ability to compete in the future. This kind of legislation is going to help in so many ways as far as our country on our economy. But more than that, our young people deserve this opportunity.

When you think back to the 1960s when we were looking at the moon and having programs that were putting us into space, those were kids' dreams. We need to reunite that dream, to have people understand that engineering and math is exciting. The last several years Mr. Holt and Mr. Ehlers have been talking about science and math in our committee; so it is right that at this time we are pushing to encourage our young people, saying if these are the careers that you want to go into, we are going to help you between a private partnership and certainly with the government's helping. This is a great piece of legislation. We should be seeing more and more of this. This is only the beginning.

And I have to say last week I had a field hearing back in my district, and the issue had to do with gangs. And we had testimony from all the experts. But even those young people that had gotten into gangs, all they were asking for were opportunities to better themselves. This young fellow did go back to college. He did start studying science and math, and now he is reaching out. Education is the most important thing that we can do for our young people and for this country.

So, again, I thank my colleague Mr. Holt for bringing this, and I encourage certainly all of my colleagues to support this legislation H.R. 1051. This is only the beginning. We must do more things like this.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, the science and technology and math education fields, they are inseparable, tremendous assets to our economic strength and national security. These disciplines are critical to ensuring our global competitiveness, and the demand for knowledge- based jobs is growing.

From 1994 to 2003, the proportion of the work force working in STEM fields jumped from 17 percent to 23 percent. Furthermore, if trends in manufacturing continue, over 40 percent of factory jobs will require postsecondary education by 2012.

I spend at least half of my time in Congress working on manufacturing issues, one of the founders of the manufacturing caucus, and serve as co-chairman, along with Congressman Tim Ryan from the State of Ohio, and this is obviously a bipartisan effort in order to encourage more education of people who will be qualified to play a more meaningful role in the field of manufacturing.

The skyrocketing cost of college education have made access to this type of education more and more difficult for many of our brightest students. This bill seeks to correct the problem. It

creates a web portal of public and private science, technology, math education scholarships, loans, and grants that are available. And the database would be searchable by field of study, demographics, and level of study. By placing all of these scholarships in one easily accessible location, H.R. 1051 greatly increases the chances that our students will be able to pursue these valuable opportunities.

It is not without coincidence this bill comes up 3 to 4 weeks after the missed reauthorization wherein we set aside a certain amount of money to complete the huge web portal that would replace what agencies are doing in manufacturing and what programs are available. So this fits very tidily into that program, and I would encourage that the House adopt it.