Issue Date: Mar 29, 2004

U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon has said he will drop a proposal that would have required colleges and universities to report annual costs for tuition, fees, and room and board to the U.S. Department of Education. Under the bill, institutions that increased their cost by twice the rate of inflation would have to develop a plan to hold down future hikes or risk exclusion from federal Title IV student aid programs. Although McKeon is dropping the idea of federal aid exclusion, he plans to continue to hold higher education’s feet to the fire by introducing legislation that would require institutions to report more detailed information about their tuition to the government and the public.

Colleges and universities nationwide were almost uniformly opposed to McKeon’s bill. In November, Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick sent a letter opposing the bill to New Jersey’s House delegation. The letter outlined the measures Rutgers has taken to keep tuition affordable while stressing that McKeon’s bill was not the answer to keeping college costs down.

This article was published in the Mar 29, 2004 edition of the Rutgers Focus and is available online at http://urwebsrv.rutgers.edu/focus/article/link/1291/