The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to tackle rising tuition costs and increase inaccessibility for low-income students at colleges and universities around the U.S., including at AU, according to a press release from the House Education and Labor Committee.
The College Opportunity and Affordability Act, which the House passed 354 to 58, reinforced an earlier bill from November that called for a $20 billion increase in federal financial aid. Thursday's legislation will allocate the money in order to curtail the soaring price of college textbooks, ensure that states maintain higher education funding, and give universities incentives for reducing tuition, according to the press release.
The bill also re-authorized of the Higher Education Act, the principal law that governs federal student aid, The Eagle previously reported.
A day before congressmen voted on the bill, House Education Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., said student and parents deserve a "College Consumer Bill of Rights," according to Education Committee spokeswoman Rachel Racusen.
The "College Consumer Bill of Rights" would place regulations on both private and federal education lenders and would protect students who borrow money, Racusen said in an e-mail.
The first of its 10 amendments states that consumers have the right to pay off college loans early without incurring an early-repayment charge; the second states consumers have the right to change their minds and cancel a private loan within three days of signing an agreement with a lender.
"If this bill is enacted into law, then all lenders offering federal and private student loans and colleges and universities would need to abide by these regulations," Racusen said.
"For too long, the rules of the education loan programs have been tilted in favor of the banks and lenders," Miller said in the press release. "It is time that the rules favored students and families who are already struggling to pay for college amidst rising tuition prices."
Daniel Doll, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said students would feel the ramifications of lower tuition costs and that the lower costs could also contribute to the overall stability of the national economy by potentially increasing the number of skilled workers.
"It's good to see that everyone is becoming more concerned about the [financial] plight of students," Doll said.
The bill will require universities with rapidly growing tuition rates to report why costs are rising, as well as force textbook publishers to offer inexpensive versions of course material, The Eagle previously reported. In addition, it will create a user-friendly Web site to help prospective families compare the costs of various schools around the country, according to the news release.
The recent legislation will finally help solve America's problem of being one of the only industrialized nations in the world without a federally-supported higher education system, said Eric Pajonk, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
"America is based on the idea that everyone has the opportunity [to succeed]," Pajonk said. "[The bill] would give more people that opportunity."
The U.S. Senate already ratified its version of the bill in July. The next step is to combine the two versions, Racusen said. Once a consolidated bill is created, the House and Senate must pass it again.
