This report delineates in detail the provisions of the Higher Education Amendments of 1986 (P.L. 99-498), the major piece of legislation reauthorizing the Higher Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-329, as amended) through FY 1991. Additional titles of Higher Education Amendments of 1986 are discussed that add authorities and amend legislation other than the Higher Education Act.

The Federal Internal Revenue Code has a number of provision pertaining to education. Some of these provisions refer explicitly to "educational institution" or "student" or the like, while others without such references still have implications for education. This report provides summaries of certain of these provisions, short legislative histories, data on how they affect education, tax expenditure revenue loss estimates, and mention of how they would be affected by President Reagan's May 1985, tax reform proposals.