But the nation faces an uphill battle due in part to a “massive shift” in financial aid policy away from need-based aid for low-income students, said Ross Wiener, vice president for program and policy at the Education Trust in Washington, D.C. He said the growth of merit-based aid and tuition tax credits tends to benefit middle-income families, leaving needy students with a smaller share of the financial aid pot.
“Institutions of higher education have abandoned low-income access,” Wiener said. Among possible solutions, he recommended that colleges and universities make a specific commitment to educating low-income students to maintain their tax-exempt status.
Yet Republicans on the panel questioned whether more financial aid encourages colleges to raise tuition. Despite more Pell funding since 2000, tuition and fees at four-year public colleges have increased 35 percent in the past five years, said U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla. Keller said he favored new legislation to give families more information about college pricing and their financial aid options.
--Charles Dervarics
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