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House passes college tuition bill
Legislation would increase financial aid
Ryan Dostalek
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: News
The bill would also increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $9,000 for each student. Kind said Congress made this possible by freeing up money that would have otherwise gone to pay private lenders to offer financial aid.
As far as lending is concerned, the bill puts a ban on financial relationships between private lending companies and universities, such as those lenders who share revenues with universities and vice-versa. It also makes sure universities and lenders give adequate information on their financial aid services that is easy for parents, students and the public to use and understand.
"The financial aid programs (in the bill) were paramount," Kind said. "Trying to make tuition more affordable for any student at any school of higher education is essential in opening up those doors for opportunity," adding that students are regularly facing $19,000 or $20,000 of debt when they graduate college and having to face an increasing national debt is a "double whammy" to students.
Also addressed in the bill were requirements for tuition increases. According to the bill, the Department of Education would award public universities grants if they keep tuition increases less than the rate of inflation. The institutions would then disburse the grants as "need-based grant aid" to students in the form of federal Pell Grants.
In addition to the federal bill, Kind, who has six universities and four technical colleges in his district, said state legislatures have to do their part in ensuring stronger higher education, adding that the state should allocate at least five years of funding for the UW System.
"My concern in Wisconsin is that the state legislature is cutting funding and then coming to Washington and saying we need to do more to help them, then they go back and raise tuition," he said. "There's shared responsibility. The federal government has the higher education bill and the state needs to provide five years of funding."
As far as lending is concerned, the bill puts a ban on financial relationships between private lending companies and universities, such as those lenders who share revenues with universities and vice-versa. It also makes sure universities and lenders give adequate information on their financial aid services that is easy for parents, students and the public to use and understand.
"The financial aid programs (in the bill) were paramount," Kind said. "Trying to make tuition more affordable for any student at any school of higher education is essential in opening up those doors for opportunity," adding that students are regularly facing $19,000 or $20,000 of debt when they graduate college and having to face an increasing national debt is a "double whammy" to students.
Also addressed in the bill were requirements for tuition increases. According to the bill, the Department of Education would award public universities grants if they keep tuition increases less than the rate of inflation. The institutions would then disburse the grants as "need-based grant aid" to students in the form of federal Pell Grants.
In addition to the federal bill, Kind, who has six universities and four technical colleges in his district, said state legislatures have to do their part in ensuring stronger higher education, adding that the state should allocate at least five years of funding for the UW System.
"My concern in Wisconsin is that the state legislature is cutting funding and then coming to Washington and saying we need to do more to help them, then they go back and raise tuition," he said. "There's shared responsibility. The federal government has the higher education bill and the state needs to provide five years of funding."
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