I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2739 
To address rising college tuition by strengthening the compact between the 
States, the Federal Government, and institutions of higher education 
to make college more affordable. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 26, 2005 
Mr. TIERNEY (for himself, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. GEORGE MIL-
LER of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. BISHOP of New 
York, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Mr. WU, Mr. DAVIS 
of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. REYES, Mr. 
GONZALEZ, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 
DELAURO, Mr. OWENS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. HOLT, Mr. 
CASE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. CARDOZA, 
Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. BARROW, Mr. 
JEFFERSON, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To address rising college tuition by strengthening the com-
pact between the States, the Federal Government, and 
institutions of higher education to make college more 
affordable. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘College Affordability and Accountability Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.— 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. References; effective date. 
Sec. 3. Findings. 
Sec. 4. State commitment to affordable college education. 
‘‘Sec. 132. State commitment to affordable college education. 
Sec. 5. Cost containment strategies. 
‘‘Sec. 133. Cost containment strategies. 
Sec. 6. Pell Plus. 
‘‘Sec. 401A. Incentives and rewards: Pell Plus. 
Sec. 7. Cooperative education rewards for institutions that restrain tuition in-
creases. 
‘‘TITLE VIII—COOPERATIVE EDUCATION REWARDS FOR 
INSTITUTIONS THAT RESTRAIN TUITION INCREASES 
‘‘Sec. 801. Statement of purpose; eligible institutions. 
‘‘Sec. 802. Authorization of appropriations; reservations. 
‘‘Sec. 803. Grants for cooperative education. 
‘‘Sec. 804. Demonstration and innovation projects; training and resource 
centers; and research. 
Sec. 8. Study. 
Sec. 9. Articulation agreement demonstration program. 
‘‘Sec. 486A. Articulation agreement demonstration program. 
Sec. 10. Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES; EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference 
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 
et seq.). 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise provided 
in this Act, the amendments made by this Act shall take 
effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) A quality college degree is the cornerstone 
of the American dream, opening the door to job op-
portunity and professional fulfillment, while increas-
ing earning power by more than a million dollars 
over a lifetime; therefore, States and the Federal 
Government should do more to make it affordable 
and accessible to all qualified students because— 
(A) recent shifts in the economy have in-
creased the demand for college-educated work-
ers and increased the wage gap between college- 
educated workers and those without a degree 
(workers with a bachelor’s degree earn 75 per-
cent more than workers with just a high school 
diploma); 
(B) jobs requiring some postsecondary 
education are expected to account for about 42 
percent of total job growth from 2000 through 
2010; 
(C) 
low-income, 
college-qualified 
high 
school graduates have an annual unmet need 
for student financial assistance of $3,800 in 
college expenses, expenses not covered by 
grants, loans, work, or family savings;
(D) 46 percent of all students who work in 
addition to being full-time students report 25 
hours or more a week of employment; and 
(E) 50 percent of those employed more 
than 25 hours a week report that working hurts 
their grades and retention in college, and stu-
dents who work more than 35 hours a week are 
considerably less likely to complete a year of 
college than those who work less than 15 hours 
a week. 
(2) State spending on higher education has de-
creased dramatically over time, and as a result, stu-
dents and their families, particularly working class 
and middle class families, have to pay a larger por-
tion of college costs: 
(A) In 2003–2004, tuition and fees in-
creased at colleges and universities across the 
country. Tuition increased by 14.1 percent at 
four-year public institutions, 13.8 percent at 
two-year public institutions, and 6.0 percent at 
four-year private institutions. 
(B) While 70 percent of all students pay 
$8,000 or less in tuition each year, low-income 
students continue to fall far behind in accessing 
a college education.
(C) The ratio of a low-income family’s 
earnings used to pay for tuition increased to 71 
percent, while this ratio held steady for middle- 
income families at 17 percent and 6 percent for 
those with the highest incomes. 
(3) Federal student aid is too focused on loans 
instead of grant aid because— 
(A) 
although 
approximately 
$55,000,000,000 is made available annually in 
direct and indirect Federal aid to postsecondary 
education students and their families, in 2002, 
60 percent of such Federal student aid was in 
the form of loans while only 40 percent was in 
the form of grants, a reversal of the distribu-
tion 20 years ago; 
(B) the purchasing power of the maximum 
Pell Grant has declined, as Pell Grants now 
cover only about 40 percent of average fixed 
costs at 4-year public colleges, about half of 
what they covered 25 years ago; and 
(C) 
average 
student 
indebtedness 
is 
$17,000, and reaches over $120,000 for profes-
sional school graduates.
SEC. 4. STATE COMMITMENT TO AFFORDABLE COLLEGE 
EDUCATION. 
Title I is amended by inserting after section 131 (20 
U.S.C. 1015) the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 132. STATE COMMITMENT TO AFFORDABLE COLLEGE 
EDUCATION. 
‘‘(a) MAINTENANCE
OF EFFORT REQUIRED.—No 
State shall reduce the total amount provided by the State 
for public institutions of higher education in such State 
for any academic year beginning on or after July 1, 2005, 
to an amount which is less than the average amount pro-
vided by such State to such institutions of higher edu-
cation during the academic years between July 1, 1998, 
and July 1, 2003. 
‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING OF ALL EDUCATION ADMINIS-
TRATIVE FUNDS FOR VIOLATIONS.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the Secretary of Education shall 
withhold from any State that violates subsection (a) any 
amount that would otherwise be available to the State for 
administrative expenses and costs under any Federal edu-
cation program until such State has corrected such viola-
tion.’’. 
SEC. 5. COST CONTAINMENT STRATEGIES. 
Title I is further amended by inserting after section 
132 (as added by section 4) the following new section: