WASHINGTON — The House gave final congressional approval Wednesday to a $100-billion five-year higher education bill intended to make it easier for all college students--including those from middle-income and wealthier families--to finance their own schooling.
President Bush is expected to sign the bill, a compromise worked out among Democratic and Republican lawmakers, despite his misgivings about provisions for direct federal loans for college tuition and expenses.
"This shows that government gridlock can be broken," said Rep. E. Thomas Coleman (R-Mo.), a key negotiator of the compromise. "What we have is a bill that puts the public interest first." The House vote was 419 to 7. The Senate approved the compromise last week.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers rushed to back the election-year package. The legislation provides new benefits for hard-pressed middle-class families who generally have been denied scholarships, grants or even federally guaranteed student loans because of income limits on existing programs.
"I'm glad to see middle-income families get some attention at last," said House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.), voicing a common theme.
The measure spells out financial aid rules for the next five years. But Congress still must appropriate funding before the increases in college aid will occur, and budget austerity pressures may delay full funding, congressional aides predicted.
If appropriations are provided at the authorized level, however, sponsors said that about 1 million more middle-income students will be eligible for federal Pell grants in the first year of the new program. Another 1.4 million students would become eligible for guaranteed loans, with 86% of them from middle-income families.
Key provisions of the bill would:
* Allow students of any income level to borrow from the federal government at a 9% rate, provided they immediately begin repaying the loans. The rate is several points below commercial rates on loans for the same purpose.
* Ease the terms of the government's subsidized loan program for students with limited means. Under the new terms, equity in homes and farms will no longer be included as family income in eligibility calculations.
* Increase to $70,000 the maximum income a family of four can earn and still be eligible for the subsidized loan program.
