House Republicans finalized a legislative proposal to overhaul the Higher Education Act – the mammoth federal law through which the entire student financial aid system is run – late Tuesday evening after a 14-hour marathon committee debate over the details of the bill.

The final vote, 23-17, along party lines, advances the proposal, known as the PROSPER Act, to the full House for a vote.

The bill would overhaul entirely the existing law by streamlining the student aid system, eliminating various regulations and elevating post-secondary programs that offer professional certificates and job training.

“When members of this committee set out not just to reauthorize, but to reform higher education policy, we knew this would be a long and difficult process,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. and chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. “But we also knew that reforms approved by the committee in the PROSPER Act would ultimately foster a higher education system that works for the students and families of today and tomorrow.”

Democrats, who are also eager to overhaul the outdated Higher Education Act, cried foul over what they say was a rushed legislative process and argued that the GOP proposal is largely a hand-out for career colleges, including the for-profit sector that’s saddled thousands of students with unmanageable debts in exchange for largely worthless degrees.

“HEA has always been considered in this committee in a bipartisan way,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the top Democrat on the committee who attempted and failed to shelve the legislative proposal entirely. “Unfortunately, [the bill] cannot be considered bipartisan because it chooses clear winners and losers. Under this bill, corporate interests are put first and students are put last.”

“Put simply,” he said, “while not everyone will choose a four-year degree, every student must have the opportunity, regardless of income, to make that choice.”

When it comes to the student financial aid system, the bill would simplify the federal aid application as well as the current federal aid offerings by making available one loan, one grant and one work-study program – a policy shift that’s garnered bipartisan backing in years prior. The proposal would also open those federal aid purses to job training programs and others, like apprenticeships, aimed at filling the skills gap.

In doing so, however, Republicans would also eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, which erases debt after 10 years for borrowers who go into public service careers, like teaching and law enforcement. It would also eliminate a separate grant that funds students in undergraduate and graduate school who promise to teach high-need subjects, like math and science, in high-needs school districts.

On the regulatory front, the bill would nix several Obama-era regulations, including those aimed at reeling in bad actors in the for-profit sector and providing students who have been defrauded by them financial relief. The bill would also roll back major regulations that aimed to standardize across all institutions of higher education the value of a credit hour.

The proposal included some new provisions on hot-button topics like hazing, sexual assault and free speech – though most of that language would not require colleges and universities to change current policies.

Though backed by every Republican member on the committee, the legislation is by no means a slam dunk on the House floor, where it will be vetted by GOP members representing rural districts whose constituents benefit from some of the provisions eliminated in the bill, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

The proposal could also fall prey to another hot-button issue: Finding a legislative path to safeguard hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children whose deportation protections are set to expire beginning next year. Attempts by Democrats to attach the bipartisan DREAM Act to the higher education bill were shot down Tuesday.

Moreover, higher education associations are lukewarm on the proposal. Dozens of organizations, including the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the American Association of Community Colleges and others, have voiced their opposition to various parts of the bill.