The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669) was passed, rather soundly and by a bipartisan vote, last Thursday by the House. The President has even said that he'll sign it — though whether he’ll include one of his fabulous little signing statements remains to be seen.

The thing sounds like a pretty good (and about damn time) bill to me. You can read about it here - http://edlabor.house.gov/micro/ccraa.shtml - but to sum it up, it claims the following actions:

• Cutting interest rates in half on subsidized student loans over the next four years, savings the average student $4,400 over the life of their loan.
• Making student loan payments more manageable for borrowers by guaranteeing that borrowers will not have to pay more than 15 percent of their discretionary income in loan repayments, and allowing borrowers to have their loans forgiven after 25 years.
• Increasing the maximum Pell Grant scholarship to $5400 over the next five years, up from $4050 in 2006. Pell Grant scholarships will receive an overall increase of nearly $12 billion, almost double the investment of H.R. 2669. Combined with increases proposed by Congress this year, this legislation will significantly restore the Pell’s purchasing power.
• Expanding eligibility through needs analysis to include and serve more students with financial need.
• Eliminating tuition sensitivity to help the neediest students at the most cost efficient schools.
• Providing upfront tuition assistance to qualified undergraduate students who commit to teaching in public schools in high-poverty communities or high-need subject areas.
• Providing loan forgiveness after 10 years for public servants, including military service members, first responders, firefighters, nurses, public defenders, early childhood educators, librarians, and others.
• Establishing a partnership with federal, state and local government entities and philanthropic organizations through matching challenge grants aimed at increasing the number of first generation and low-income college students.
• Make landmark new investments in historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally-controlled colleges and universities, Alaska and Hawaiian native institutions, and predominantly black institutions by guaranteeing $510 million over five years.

Sounds like the right track. We need comprehensive reform and improvement in how we fund higher education in this country. Many of us know all too well how hard it is to pay for college in the first place, and then to pay off the mountains of debt accumulated while we’re there.

Here in Wisconsin, we’ve got a state legislature that can’t be bothered to stop sniping at each other and actually pass a damn budget. In the meantime, 77 days have gone by and students in need of financial assistance to see their college educations through are left in limbo, essentially with nothing, waiting for someone to make a decision so they can get their financial aid.

There’s a sliver of hope, though, after last Thursday’s compromise proposal offered by Republicans that meets funding levels for public schools Democrats asked for in the first place and makes a “few other concessions.”

According to the buzz, Governor Jim Doyle seems to think that with some “hard work” the budget can be done by Friday. The Assembly is meeting on Tuesday to vote on the plan and other elements of the budget that would impact property taxes.

Let’s hope they’re able to reach some kind of agreement that doesn’t slash funding for things like public education. This budget fiasco has gone on for far too long and only serves to illustrate how ridiculous some of our trusty lawmakers up at the capitol can be.