Although Republicans and Democrats in U.S. Congress both agree that the nation’s higher education system is in a financial crisis, it does not seem that a recent bill introduced by Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-California, is the answer either side was looking for.
Introduced last week, McKeon’s bill would allow the U.S. Department of Education to restrict federal aid allotments to colleges that increased tuition above a set amount. If passed, the bill would take effect in the 2005-06 school year, but colleges would not begin to lose their federal aid until 2011.
“Rep. McKeon read a government report about college costs preventing 48 percent of low-income students from attending four year institutions, and of these, 24 percent do not attend college at all,” Vartan Djihanian, press secretary for Rep. McKeon, said. “College costs will split society even more so than now.”
Colleges that increased their tuition by twice the rate of inflation or more over a three-year period would have to provide the Department of Education with an explanation of why tuition rose and steps the college was taking to control the rate of increase.
If the college continued to raise tuition after two years, it would have to provide the department with a detailed list of all expenditures. Such information would then be open to the public.
If the college raised tuition again, the Department of Education could then restrict the institution from receiving federal money for specific financial-aid programs.
Students at a penalized college would continue to receive Pell Grants and federal student loans, but the college’s work study grants and Perkins Loans would be cut.
The latter two are part of “campus-based” aid, by which the government distributes money and the college then adds its aid money for the student.
Opponents of Rep. McKeon’s bill say it will only further the trend of increasing tuition that it is designed to eliminate.
Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Michigan, called for McKeon to withdraw his bill.
“Rep. Kildee believes that this bill would limit access to colleges,” said Alex Nock, legislative associate to Kildee. “And it will lead to diminished educational quality in instruction.”
McKeon’s bill would not, however, affect the lowest-costing community colleges, state colleges, private colleges and for-profit institutions. It would also not affect colleges that raise their tuition by $500 or less.
As the American Council on Education noted, around 1,320 post-secondary institutions have increased tuition by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past three years.
Had McKeon’s bill currently been in effect, it would have affected 225 public colleges, 470 private colleges and 625 for-profit institutions.
Nock said it is necessary to look at the entire system of higher education for an effective solution, which he feels McKeon’s bill will not accomplish.
“Every time there’s a federal deficit, funding for education decreases dramatically. We need to have a more stable system,” Nock said. “There are no incentives for universities to reduce tuition.”
Djihanian agreed, adding, “The federal government shouldn’t be responsible alone in tackling this crisis.”
