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House proposes bill to curb rising tuition costs

Escalating college tuition costs have caught the eye of Capitol Hill. Last week, Republicans from the House of Representatives proposed a bill aimed at curbing the rising college tuition rates. Unfortunately, the plan is not sound.

Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, R-Calif., put forth a bill that would penalize the individual colleges whose tuition costs increase by more than twice the rate of inflation over a three-year period. If a college fails to slow the rate of increase after another three years, the government would strip some of the university’s federal financial aid programs.

At first glance, penalizing schools that raise tuition appears a novel idea. But in the end, McKeon’s bill only hurts those whom it purports to help: The students.

Students would be hit especially hard if their school lost access to federal financial aid. While the bill makes funds given directly to students, like the Pell Grant, off limits, the bill would still harm low-income students who receive supplemental grants and middle-class students who aren't eligible for grants and loans offered through the school.

McKeon’s bill would not immediately cut off federal aid money, but instead, place the college or university on “alert” if their tuition and fees rose by more than twice the rate of inflation over three years. The school would then need to provide the U.S. Education Department with an explanation of the factors that led to the increases and how the institution plans to curb the rate of increase. If the school fails to comply with its own management plan after three more years, it would lose access to federal aid programs.

In attempting to keep tuition low, colleges could feel pressured to reduce overall operating costs. In turn, institutions might hire fewer faculty, lower staff salaries, neglect technology upgrades and enact other measures that would harm the academic quality of an institution. Meanwhile, those charged with setting tuition rates are forced to choose between raising tuition to offset decreasing state support — and risk losing federal aid money — or watch the quality of education plummet.

We applaud McKeon for tackling the issue of rising tuition. However, considering more than 1,320 colleges and universities increased their cost of attendance by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past three years, it seems McKeon’s bill would penalize too many schools, and in turn, too many students.

This is a Staff Editorial from the Daily Texan at the University of Texas-Austin.
This editorial as distributed by U-Wire.