Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce the Financial Literacy in Higher Education Act with Senator Enzi and original cosponsors of S. 1800, the College LIFE (Literacy in Finance and Economics) Act, Senators Sarbanes and Corzine.

This is truly a bipartisan compromise on the provisions of S. 1800, the College LIFE Act, and I appreciate Senator Enzi's willingness to collaborate on this matter. As in S. 1800, the Financial Literacy in Higher Education Act proposes a pilot program for five higher education institutions to encourage students to take a personal finance course and participate in preventive annual credit counseling, working in conjunction with state or local public, private, and nonprofit entities selected by the local education agency or the school, and measuring the effectiveness of efforts in any behavioral changes that may result.

The bill emphasizes the importance of personal finance and economic education and counseling by authorizing these activities as allowable uses in existing Higher Education Act programs, such as TRIO, GEAR UP, and Title III and Title V Serving Institutions. These are programs that have been successful in expanding higher education access to populations with unique needs and, therefore, are ideal avenues through which we can further the important components of financial and economic literacy, such as wise budgeting, saving, debt management, tax preparation, and avoiding predatory or abusive practices.

The bill promotes greater collaboration with and support from Federal agencies in the higher education arena with respect to economic and financial literacy, including coordination with the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, which was created by Title V of H.R. 2622, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. The conference report of H.R. 2622 was adopted recently by this chamber and the other body. For those who may not be familiar with the Commission, the new entity will work to improve financial literacy and education in the United States through the development of a national strategy.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan effort to increase the financial and economic literacy of our college students. I will also work with my colleagues on advancing the grant programs in S. 1800 that are not in our compromise package, because I feel that those, too, are important parts of our overall effort. Students in higher education are some of our Nation's best and brightest, and we must work to give them the tools that will help them succeed. Not the least among these is literacy in personal finance and economics.