The Year Ahead on Capitol Hill
Higher education advocates hope Congress will address Pell Grant increases, textbook costs and other priorities before the fall presidential campaign.
By Charles Dervarics
With a presidential election on the horizon, 2008 on Capitol Hill is shaping up as a year for quick action on budget, student aid and other education bills before the fall campaign takes the national spotlight, advocates say.
“The battles are going to start in January,” says Carmen Berkley, vice president of the United States Student Association. Topping the list is funding for the current and the next federal fiscal years. After using his veto pen to help rein in federal spending last fall, President Bush gets another chance in early February when he will present his 2009 education budget.
USSA is seeking long-range increases in the Pell Grant to $9,000 a year for needy students, about double its current amount, Berkley says. Increases in college work/study, GEAR UP and college-access programs also are on the group’s agenda.
But the budget is not the only issue on the minds of education advocates, who cited these topics in their 2008 agendas:
Textbook costs: Large increases and high costs make it difficult for many needy students to afford the ongoing costs of college. For community college students, textbooks can account for 40 percent of total attendance cost, says Luke Swarthout, higher education advocate at U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
A bipartisan House bill on the Higher Education Act (HEA) has language requiring more disclosure from publishers about textbook prices. “Faculty are the point of sale for textbooks,” he says, but publishers often hide the prices from them.
