Patrick Fights “Sticker Shock” On College Costs

This article in today’s Bucks County Courier Times notes the following…

At a press conference at (Bristol Borough Junior/Senior High School) Monday, Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, discussed his plan to put a “sticker price” on a college education.

The plan, called the Truth in Tuition measure, was an amendment Murphy added to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act that passed in the House by 354-58 Thursday. That amendment needs Senate approval and will need to be signed into law by President Bush.

“It's time to be straight with American families about how much college is going to cost,” Murphy said Monday, alongside a dozen high school and college students and their parents.

Murphy's proposal would essentially force all colleges and universities, both public and private, to publicly explain the reasons behind a tuition increase.

Oh, and before you digest the latest lie from White House flak Dana Perino that the 110th is a “do-nothing Congress,” consider that the House not only passed the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, but as noted here…

…On January 18, 2007 the House passed legislation that would halve interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next five years. This would affect the 5.5 million students who borrow Stafford loans[13] every year. The lower interest rate would save incoming college freshmen thousands of dollars over the course of their college career.[14] This plan is a drastic change from recent efforts to overhaul student loans. Only a little more than a year ago, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), then Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, assured a roomful of loan-industry officials by saying, "know that I have all of you in my two trusted hands."[15]

The House also passed the Student Loan Sunshine Act as noted here last May; I don’t know if that was a precursor of sorts to the bill passed in the House last Thursday or not.

Given all of this, I think we should “reward good behavior” as Atrios says, and to do so on Patrick’s behalf, click here.

Update 2/15/08: I really don't have anything else to say about this, but I thought it was too cool to be ignored; nothing really against the 'Jints, since they knocked off Belichick and the Pats, but it shows that Patrick never forgot where he came from.