A high-ranking congressman withdrew a controversial proposal earlier this month to deny certain kinds of federal aid to colleges if tuition increases exceeded twice the rate of inflation.
Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) had proposed the plan as part of his Affordability in Higher Education Act, introduced last year. He said the decision to abandon the controversial provision of the bill was a result of voluntary efforts by several universities to rein in rising costs of tuition, demonstrating that monetary penalties were no longer necessary.
“I am delighted that my bill successfully sent a strong message to colleges and universities that more must be done to rein in the cost of tuition and fees,” McKeon said. “Thanks to the debate this proposal has sparked, more and more institutions today are announcing voluntary steps to avoid excessive tuition hikes that hurt parents and students.”
The plan to impose punitive action on universities was met with strong opposition by institutions nationwide, including Georgetown, which argued the bill did not take into account individual schools’ endowments or the amount of financial aid they provide to students.
Georgetown administrators, faced with tuition increases over the last decade well over the limits specified in McKeon’s bill, were especially concerned. They argued that unlike most schools, Georgetown, faced with a sinking endowment and an enrollment cap, cannot simply admit more students to increase revenue.
“We’re pleased that the original proposal to withhold campus-based aid to students at institutions where tuition increased in excess of a set formula is no longer being actively considered,” Scott Fleming, assistant to Georgetown’s president for federal relations, said. “This provision would have amounted to a major intrusion into the financial decisions of this university that could very well have meant great harm to both our students and our strength as an academic center.”
Fleming said the university could not comment on the bill as it now stands until it has a chance to review the new proposal. “The specifics of the bill will make all the difference. How it handles the various financial aid programs is particularly important to Georgetown as a need-blind, full-need institution,” he said.
Despite McKeon’s assertion that his decision to abandon the controversial provisions of his bill was based solely on positive trends in the reduction of tuition costs, some political observers suggested that a lack of congressional support might have convinced the Congressman to withdraw the punitive clauses. The White House, and many fiscal conservatives in Congress, were wary of imposing federal price controls on tuition and had refused to lend their support to the bill.
The bill also came under intense fire from Congressional Democrats.
“We were pleased to learn that the Republican members of the House education committee decided this week to drop their much publicized proposal to punish students when their tuition costs rose too fast by denying them access to some college aid,” said a statement released by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the education committee, Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).
“But we don’t buy the Republican assertion that action is unnecessary because schools are voluntarily controlling tuition hikes. The Republicans backed down because of a torrent of criticism from schools, education organizations, students and Democrats in Congress that their plan was completely unfair.” iller, Tierney and McCollum said that the new version of cKeon’s bill, although offering greater “transparency” to families paying for college, was still inadequate.
Republicans responded by attacking the Democratic plan to control tuition rates, which would withhold administrative funds from states that raised tuition above a certain rate, and encouraging them to support McKeon’s revised proposal, which would provide more information about college costs to students and their families.
McKeon’s new proposals include requiring colleges that increase their total costs of attendance by greater than twice the rate of inflation over a three-year period to submit an explanation, and a plan for reducing tuition costs in the future, to the government. If a college fails to adhere to its plan after two academic years, it will be forced to make public a detailed accounting of its expenditures.
“Instead of cutting education funding for states, I encourage my Democrat colleagues to join Republicans in providing greater sunshine and transparency in college costs so parents and students are empowered to exercise their power as consumers in the marketplace of higher education,” said Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Education & the Workforce Committee.
McKeon’s actions were also praised by education lobbyist organizations that had vigorously opposed the bill’s passage.
Dallas Martin, President of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, lauded McKeon’s decision, and pledged his “support in finding reasonable solutions to help address the issue.”However,” Martin added, “we cannot support sanctions being imposed upon institutions that in turn prevent qualified students from receiving need-based aid.”
Fleming said the university would remain committed to supporting legislation that reduces the college cost burden on students.
“Our goal is to see a bill produced that will restore the strength of the Pell Grant program, maintain the commitment to critical campus-based aid programs and enable federal loan programs to better meet the needs of Georgetown students,” he said.
