Platts Amendment Aims to Rein in Student Tuition Hikes

Institutions that repeatedly raise tuition would be required to seek out spending cuts

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee today approved the College Access & Opportunity Act (H.R. 609) to reform and strengthen federal student aid and higher education programs. An amendment sponsored by Congressman Todd Platts (PA-19) requiring higher education institutions that continually raise student tuitions to seek out methods for reducing the institution's operating costs was included in the legislation. 

The Platts amendment would build upon provisions advocated by Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness, which would identify federally-funded higher education institutions that increase tuition costs at twice the rate of inflation for three years in a row.  These institutions would then be required to report the causes of such tuition hikes to the U.S. Department of Education, and that information would be made publicly available.
 
The Platts amendment would require the top 25 percent of higher education institutions identified under the McKeon provision to also establish a Quality-Efficiency Task Force, comprised of administrators, business and civic leaders and other potential representatives such as students and faculty members.  The Task Force would identify areas where, in comparison to similar institutions, the institution in question operates more expensively.  The Task Force would then be asked to analyze such areas for cost reduction opportunities.  The final analysis of the Task Force would also be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. 

"Tuition is becoming less-and-less affordable for many families," said Platts.  "This amendment requires higher education institutions that are increasing tuition rates more excessively than similar colleges or universities to study-with input from business, civic and other leaders-whether there's a better, more efficient way for said institutions to operate."

H.R. 609 would reauthorize the 1998 Higher Education Act and would add stronger protections for students on college campuses and refocus the law back to its original mission to expand college access for low- and middle-income students.