Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13th) today applauded passage of a long-awaited, bipartisan overhaul of federal higher education and student aid laws.  By a vote of 380 to 49, the House passed H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, a bill that Biggert negotiated as a Member of the House-Senate Conference Committee that finalized the legislation.
 
             “Gas prices aren’t the only costs going up for American families.  Rapidly rising tuition has become an enormous burden on the budgets of students and their parents,” said Biggert, the only GOP member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation serving on the House Education and Labor Committee.  “This landmark bill aims to make higher education more attainable by expanding federal assistance efforts and finally addressing the long-term problem of excessive growth in tuition rates.”
 
             Among the bill’s approximately 1,500 pages are provisions designed to dramatically increase transparency in school prices and put a spotlight on the relationships between school officials and private lenders.  The bill requires colleges and universities to disclose an array of information about their student aid practices, prices, text book costs, room and board fees, as well as the rate of change in their tuition costs.  This information would be placed on a one-stop financial aid website along with information about the public and private resources that are available to students.  The bill also requires the Department of Education to publish a list of the most and least affordable schools.
 
             “By holding schools accountable and empowering students with more knowledge about their options, this legislation will put significant new pressure on institutions to control tuition costs,” said Biggert. 
 
             In addition, the bill would simplify the student aid application process with a far less complicated FASFA student aid application form.  It also includes significant increases in funding for Pell Grants and Perkins loans, as well as the GEAR UP and TRIO programs, which provide student aid to low-income and disadvantaged youth.  Finally, it provides for new financial literacy programs on college campuses. 
 
             “Far too many of today’s students graduate college without ever having learned the basics of credit, risk and debt management,” said Biggert, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus.  ”This legislation will help more students to get the sound financial advice that they need to successfully join the workforce.  And increased federal grant funding will ensure that the dream of higher education doesn’t fall out of reach for millions of low-income children.”

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