If passed by Congress, an act could give ISU students disgruntled over perennial tuition increases added leverage in lobbying the state and university to lower costs.

The federal act would give the government more authority and responsibility to pressure institutions of higher education to provide affordable costs to students for education.

Last March, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., proposed a controversial bill.

The bill would consider cutting federal funding to universities if they unreasonably increased tuition and fees for three years in a row by more than double the Consumer Price Index, a number most often used to indicate inflation rates, according to Daily staff reports.

Legislators saw the proposal as counterproductive, because the more funding that is cut from colleges, the more students have to pay to make up the deficit, said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames.

Rep. Jane Greimann, D-Ames, agreed.

“It’s a very counterproductive idea,” she said. “The reason your tuition is going up is because of cuts, not the other way around.”

The bill has since become the Affordability in Higher Education Act, which instead of cutting federal aid would publish an online “cost affordability alert” for colleges that increase their costs by more than two times the Consumer Price Index for three years in a row, according to the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Web site, http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/108th/education/highereducation/3311billsummary.htm.

Colleges which increase costs twice that of the Consumer Price Index for three consecutive years will receive an Affordability Index score of 2.0 or more.

An alert would be published in a College Affordability Index and would include detailed cost information about the colleges to inform prospective students.

Beginning in 2008, colleges with an Index score of 2.0 or more would be evaluated and will have to provide an explanation and an action plan to reduce costs.

If the college fails to meet its own plan over two years, detailed cost information would be publicized, and the college would be put in the “cost affordability alert” status.

State legislators from Ames said they were unaware of the federal legislation and its provisions, but said higher education has become an increasingly important issue and priority for the Iowa Legislature.

In the last four years, university tuition and fees have increased by about 60 percent, Quirmbach said.

“Sixty percent in four years is not the rate of inflation,” he said.

He said the reason for this is cuts in state appropriations to higher education.

Greimann agreed.

“Just in the last three years we have cut our state appropriations to the Regents more than $100 million,” she said. “And enrollment at the universities keeps going up. Where is [ISU] President [Gregory] Geoffroy going to get the money if he doesn’t raise your tuition?”

Greimann, part of the Democratic minority in the state House, said the only way to stop such drastic price increases is by changing House leadership.

Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, said investing in education needs to be a priority as well.

“We’re not putting state resources into education; we need to make education a priority,” she said. “I think there’s a commitment by the state to fund education, and we need to hold on to that commitment.”

Rep. Jim Kurtenbach, R-Ames, said legislatures look primarily at stable funding for university budgets.

“It’s really a balancing act between state funding and tuition,” he said.

Heddens said students also have the ability to bring about change in the legislature.

“Students have a very strong voice, and I would like to hear them utilize it a little bit more. The legislature really needs to hear from students themselves,” she said.

Although student involvement does affect legislation, Heddens said the main responsibility for change lies with the state.

“We do have a budget issue and we need to look at ways to increase revenue,” Heddens said. “We can always look at ways to tap into more federal dollars.”