Congress cleared legislation Thursday overhauling federal support for higher education, sending the bill to the White House for President Bush’s expected signature.

The House adopted the conference report (HR 4137 — H Rept 110-803) on a 380-49 vote. The Senate then voted, 83-8, to clear it.

The measure is the first comprehensive, long-term overhaul of the Higher Education Act (PL 105-244) in a decade, although Congress made substantial changes to certain aid programs and lender subsidies under a law enacted a year ago (PL 110-84).

“In the 10 years that have passed, our world and our country have changed dramatically. So have the needs of college students,” said House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif. The bill, he said, will “reshape our higher education programs in the best interests of students and families.”

Final action on the measure had special meaning in the Senate, where Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., had taken the lead on the bill for years. The chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Kennedy was forced to turn over the final negotiations on the legislation to Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., after he was sidelined in May by a malignant brain tumor.

Ranking committee Republican Michael B. Enzi, who called the bill “a major victory for America’s students and families,” added, “My only regret is that Sen. Kennedy isn’t here to share this great moment.”

Mikulski proved to be a tough and tenacious negotiator, members said, working with Enzi and others to broker deals on whether to penalize states for cutting back their investments in higher education, how to keep textbook costs down and what new programs to create.

The final bill would increase the maximum authorized Pell grant for low-income students to $8,000 a year by the 2014-15 academic year, from $5,800, and would allow the grants to be used year-round and by part-time students.

The legislation would also create a $10,000 student loan forgiveness program for graduates to take jobs in high-need fields such as nursing, early childhood education, teaching and other public service.

The measure contains a slew of new requirements aimed at keeping down the cost of college — a key priority of Education and Labor’s ranking Republican, Howard P. “Buck” McKeon of California.

One such provision calls for publishing a list of schools’ tuitions and their total costs online — with a specific list of the 5 percent with the greatest cost increases.

“It took us five long years to get here,” McKeon said, adding that “good things do come to those who wait.”

The legislation would slash the application form for student financial aid from seven pages to two, create roughly five dozen new programs, boost aid for minority-serving institutions and create new benefits for members of the military and their families.

It also aims to crack down on conflicts of interest and other problems reported over the past year by tightening regulation of private student loans, banning “sweetheart deals” between lenders and schools and requiring a Justice Department review of any Education Department settlement exceeding $1 million.

Last year, advocates for students and nonprofit groups cried foul when Education Secretary Margaret Spellings allowed large lender Nelnet to keep $278 million in illegal subsidy payments that it billed the agency.

Last year’s scandals — which included kickbacks between several college aid administrators and lenders — helped spur action on the higher education bill.

So did the fact that Congress tackled the student loan program separately when it made controversial cuts to lender subsidy rates last year.

“Last year, Congress essentially broke the reauthorization in half,” said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of government and public affairs for the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities. “It helped break the logjam that made it impossible for them to do this over the last six years.”

While President Bush has not yet come out with his official position on the package, he is expected to sign it, despite previously objecting to some of its provisions.

Congress on July 30 cleared a two-week extension of the law (S 3352) to allow time for the paperwork and enrollment needed to get the overhaul bill to the White House. Bush signed that measure on Thursday.