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This article presents an update on a higher education bill in the U.S. as of May 1972. Although higher education legislation continues to be delayed in a House-Senate conference committee by such thorny issues as public school bussing, general aid to institutions, and the program of student support, several important decisions have been reached. Two of these concern the administration's proposed National Foundation for Higher Education (NFHE) and the National Institute of Education (NIE). Put most briefly, the former is out and the former is in. The NFHE was designed in part as a response to those who argued that higher education was receiving short shrift of all sorts and was being criticized for lack of innovation at the same time that support for innovation was denied. Actually the proposal drew relatively little attention and more yawns than passion on either side. This was partly because many felt it to be an organizational exercise whose real merit depended entirely on its undetermined staffing and budget. As it is, the House-Senate conference sought to accomplish some of the same results without the bureaucratic fanfare. Thus, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was authorized to hire up to five top-level administrators and to establish an advisory commission to promote higher education innovation.