College Affordability and Accountability Act

Bill: 108-hr-3519
Sponsor: Rep. Tierney, John F. [D-MA-6]
Introduced: 2003-11-19 in the House
Policy area: Education
Subjects: College administration
College costs
Colleges
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer education
Cost control
Economics and Public Finance
Education of the disadvantaged
Educational accountability
Educational planning
Educational technology
Electronic government information
Energy
Energy conservation
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to education
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publications
Government publicity
Government regulation
Governmental investigations
Higher education
Indexing (Economic policy)
Internet
Job hunting
Labor and Employment
Laboratories
Mathematics
Minorities
Minority education
Occupational health and safety
Public schools
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Scientific education
Social Welfare
Strategic planning
Student aid
Student employment
Student records
Teacher education
Technological innovations
Vocational and technical education
Web sites
Women
Women's education

Summary:
action_date: 2003-11-19
text: 
College Affordability and Accountability Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to require State maintenance of effort in providing funding to public institutions of higher education (IHEs).
 
Requires all IHEs to plan, engage in, and report on cost containment strategies. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to conduct research on such strategies. Directs the Secretary to publish an annual report on college affordability and to disseminate certain data, including the net price tuition index (NTPI) for each IHE through a college price calculator on an enhanced college opportunities on line (COOL) website.
 
Establishes a Pell Plus program to provide an increased award to each Pell Grant recipient at IHEs that maintain specified types of: (1) low tuition; (2) guaranteed tuition; or (3) affordable tuition.
 
Establishes a program of grants for cooperative education for IHEs that restrain tuition increases.
 
Authorizes grants and contracts for cooperative education demonstration and innovation projects, training and resource centers, and research.
 
Directs the Secretary to commission the National Research Council to study the viability of developing and implementing standards in environmental, health, and safety areas to provide for differential regulation of: (1) industrial laboratories and facilities; and (2) research and teaching laboratories.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to select IHEs, IHE systems, or IHE consortia for voluntary participation in an articulation agreement demonstration program to specify the acceptability of courses in transfer toward meeting specific degree requirements, as a means to lower tuition prices for students.
 
Directs the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to convene a task force of experts, representative of key constituents in higher education, to: (1) determine the best methods to finance higher education in the long-term; (2) help public institutions utilize long-term budgeting to plan for the future; (3) review the trends of financing of higher education; and (4) define the role played by the States, the Federal Government, families, and outside entities in financing higher education, and determine the best methods to strengthen this partnership.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-01-30
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.
action_date: 2003-11-19
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
action_date: 2003-11-19
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2003-11-19
text: Introduced in House