ISU President Steven Leath is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Senate committee on the importance of making college more affordable on Thursday.

Leath will appear before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. It will be convening at 10 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is chairman of the committee. The committee invited Leath as well as four other higher education officials to explain strategies “to improve affordability and deal with financial pressures facing higher education. In addition, the committee is seeking recommendations for federal policy on student financial aid,” according to a news release from the ISU News Service.

Also scheduled to appear before the committee are:

• Don Heller, dean of the college of education at Michigan State University, East Lansing;
• Jim Murdaugh, president of Tallahassee Community College, Florida;
• Thomas Snyder, president of Ivy Tech Community College, Bloomington, Ind.
• Carol Twigg, president and CEO of the National Center for Academic Transformation, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Senate committee hearing will be live streamed.