House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican, today introduced legislation, the College Affordability & Transparency Act, to provide parents and students more information – and more user-friendly information – about the costs of colleges and how they compare with other institutions.  The measure also would ask colleges whose costs rise most dramatically to identify ways to keep them in check and plan accordingly.  

The introduction of the legislation follows a request made by McKeon to the Committee’s Chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), and the Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), to allow for consideration of the legislation as part of tomorrow’s debate on a Democrat leadership plan to gradually reduce interest rates for some student loans.  Noting that the Democrat leadership plan does not impact students, but rather college graduates, McKeon expressed hope that bipartisan cooperation – focused on affordability and accountability – could strengthen the bill on behalf of students, graduates, parents, and taxpayers alike. 

“With the federal investment in college student aid reaching record levels each and every year, the fact that costs continue to rise should make it clear that money alone is not the solution to the college cost crisis,” said McKeon.  “Colleges and universities themselves must be held accountable for their role in increasing tuition and fees year in and year out.”

As Congress considers college loan legislation tomorrow, McKeon will work to keep the fundamental concepts of accountability and disclosure remain at focus during this and other college cost debates. 

McKeon concluded, “The Democrat leadership bill is well-intentioned, but it is badly flawed.  We can improve upon it – starting with incorporating reforms to empower parents and students to become better consumers of higher education.” 

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Following is a summary of the College Affordability & Transparency Act: 

MORE DISCLOSURE: Giving Parents and Students More Information than Ever 

Similar to reforms adopted by the U.S. House last spring, the College Affordability & Transparency Act would redesign the existing U.S. Department of Education College Opportunity Online Locator (COOL) website (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool), making it easier to use for parents and students while not adding burdensome reporting requirements for colleges and universities. 

Included on the COOL website would be user-friendly College Consumer Profiles, which will give parents and students access to more information about colleges and universities than ever before.  As families make critical college decisions, the College Consumer Profiles will provide a one-stop shop for the most important details about institutions – even allowing students and parents to compare institutions with one another.  Such comparisons could be based on a variety of factors, including:

Overall cost of attendance (tuition, room and board, books, supplies, etc.);

• Average amount of financial assistance received (including institutional aid);
• The number of students receiving financial assistance;
• How much the school spends educating each student;
• Student enrollment information;
• Faculty-to-student ratios;
• Graduation rates; and
• Net tuition price. 

Choosing a college is not only a major academic and career decision – but a significant financial one as well.  With this fact in mind, the College Affordability & Transparency Act will ensure that parents and students will become better consumers of higher education. 

INCREASED ACCOUNTABILITY: Holding Schools Responsible for College Cost Hikes  

When consumers or taxpayers insist upon reform, sunlight – in the form of greater transparency – often is the best disinfectant and the best vehicle to achieving that reform.  Such is the case with the college cost crisis.  The College Affordability & Transparency Act includes a variety of reforms to add greater transparency into the college cost debate, ensuring that institutions themselves are held more accountable for their role in consistent and unyielding spikes in tuitions, fees, and other college costs.  These reforms include: 

1. Establishing a User-Friendly College Affordability Comparison  

The College Affordability & Transparency Act would provide students and parents – in easy-to-use College Consumer Profiles published on the COOL website – the:

• “Sticker price” for a school over a three year time period;
• “Net tuition price” (average costs minus average grants) over that same time period; 
• Percentage change in both over that same time period; and
• Percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over that same time period. 

Any school that raises its tuition at twice the rate of the CPI will be required to provide students and parents a description of the factors impacting the increase.   

2. Creating Quality Efficiency Task Forces 

Using information published in the College Consumer Profile’s college affordability comparison, the College Affordability & Transparency Act would ask the top five percent of schools that have increased their tuition the most to create a Quality Efficiency Task Force to examine the institution’s operating costs as compared to other similarly-situated institutions.  On behalf of parents and students, the Task Force would recommend ways for the school to become more efficient and keep costs in check.  

3. Freeing Selected Institutions from Costly Regulatory Requirements 

The College Affordability & Transparency Act would free up to 100 schools – in a specially-designed and tracked demonstration project managed by the Secretary of Education – from costly statutory or regulatory requirements that often cause institutions themselves to raise their own costs to compensate.  As part of this project, schools could test more creative methods to help them operate more efficiently – providing the federal government, other schools, parents, and students with better insight into ways to keep college costs in check.

4. Identifying Existing Best Practices on Affordability 

The College Affordability & Transparency Act would require a Government Accountability Office study on the policies and procedures currently used by schools to enhance affordability.  Best practices identified in this study could provide more schools around the country a roadmap to reducing costs and making college more affordable for students and their parents. 

Expanding college access remains a fundamental goal for the nation and for Congress.  To succeed in this effort, more sunlight – through more disclosure and increased institutional accountability for cost increases – must be added into the debate.  The College Affordability & Transparency Act adds that sunlight, helping parents and students become better consumers of higher education than ever before.