College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (H.R.4137) was a bill in the 110th Congress "to amend and extend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes." (Official title)

Current status
The legislation has been approved by both the House and Senate, and is awaiting President Bush's signature. 

Bill summary

 * Requires the government to make available online a list of the most expensive and least expensive colleges on a website, along with a list of the colleges that have had the largest increases in tuition and fee rates over a three year period (Sec. 109).


 * Requires the colleges with the largest increases in tuition and fee rates to submit a report describing the causes of these increases (Sec. 109).


 * Requires textbook publishers to disclose the retail cost of textbooks and supplemental materials before selling them to school officials (Sec. 110).


 * Requires textbook publishers that bundle textbooks and supplemental materials to also make the textbooks and supplemental materials available separately (Sec. 110).


 * Requires colleges and lending institutions to disclose to the government any preferred lender relationships (Sec. 115).


 * Prohibits colleges from entering into any kind of revenue sharing arrangement with lenders (Sec. 115).


 * Expands federal Pell Grants to allow awards of up to two grants for students taking more than two semesters or the equivalent each year (Sec. 401).


 * Raises the maximum Pell grand from $5,800 to $9,000 per academic year (Sec. 401).

Key votes

 * Vote to pass a bill that makes changes to regulations regarding student costs for attending colleges, relationships between colleges and lenders, and student aid.

House


Senate


Supporters

 * American Federation of Teachers
 * Campaign for Environmental Literacy
 * Child Welfare League of America
 * Council for Exceptional Children
 * Council of Environmental Deans and Directors
 * Motion Picture Association of America
 * National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association
 * National School Boards Association
 * U.S. Public Interest Research Groups
 * United States Student Association

Articles and resources

 * National Conference of State Legislatures' article Federal Mandate on State Higher Education Spending Would Hurt Most-Needy Students 4 Feb 2008.
 * The Daily Californian's article Federal Bill Meant to Lower Cost of Textbooks 27 Jan 2008.

External articles

 * Libby George, "Higher Education Reauthorization and Overhaul Cleared for White House," CQ Politics, July 31, 2008