House Launches Update of Higher Education Law

WASHINGTON

      The House began a push Wednesday to rein in college costs and make it easier for students to seek federal aid.

      Critics of the measure have said that it would do little to help families directly, and Democrats complained that the debate was rushed and limited.

      The broad renewal of the nation’s higher education law, the first one since 1998, was shaping up as an election-year fight. Congress typically updates the Higher Education Act every several years with little rancor, but this time, that bipartisan unity is gone.

      The bill would raise the maximum Pell Grant, simplify the process of applying for federal aid and require the U.S. Department of Education to post information about colleges in a way that is easy to understand.

      It would also set new restrictions on when colleges and universities can refuse to award academic credit to transfer students. Vocational colleges praise that idea, but universities say it would weaken their standards and force them to award credit when it is not deserved.

      Overall, the Republican-led bill would expand the federal oversight of colleges and universities, particularly on matters of money.

      By ordering schools that hike prices significantly to face federal scrutiny, bill sponsors hope to influence colleges’ tuition decisions. Any school that increases its tuition more than twice the rate of inflation over a three-year period would have to explain why.

      “Colleges and universities must remain accountable to the consumers of higher education,” says Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif.

      Some college groups say the bill is in effect creating government “price controls,” a charge the bill’s sponsors deny.