Two bills recently introduced in the U.S. House hope to curb increased tuition hikes at higher-level institutions.

The College Affordability and Accountability Act introduced Tuesday by U.S. Reps. John Tierney, D-Mass., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn., would increase financial aid to students through Pell grants at universities that keep tuition prices at or below the Higher Education Price Index. The index measures inflation at colleges and universities.

The bill also would form a national campaign to implement successful cost-reducing ideas and require universities to report cost-containment strategies.

Universities also would be encouraged to provide readily accessible information about the tuition, books and room and board costs through Web sites and informative pamphlets.

A study recently released by The College Board, a New York-based nonprofit organization, found tuition increased an average of 14.1 percent at four-year public institutions across the nation for the 2003-04 academic year.

Joshua Straka, a spokesman for McCollum, said the bill is crucial for keeping college accessible.

"This is important legislation," he said. "College costs have gone up too much. It's becoming unaffordable for working-class families to afford higher education."

The bill is sitting in the hands of a subcommittee of the Education and Workforce Committee. It could cost up to $2 billion to implement, Straka said.

A similar bill was introduced in the House last month by U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif. The proposal would impose sanctions on universities that increase tuition by more than double the rate of inflation. It would deny those institutions federally administered financial aid.

McKeon and co-sponsors of the legislation could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said there is a common belief among politicians that college officials are not fiscally responsible.

"Higher education is on the hit list again," he said. "There is a perception, right or wrong, that somehow higher education is spending too much and can afford to take cuts from legislators, in both Washington and Lansing."

Howard Gobstein, MSU's associate vice president of governmental affairs, said he is not supportive of McKeon's proposal, calling it a "scary bill," because it would undermine the role of the state in funding universities.

"It changes the role of the partnership and denies the role of the state government," Gobstein said. "Instead of working together, it puts universities and the federal government in conflict."

And MSU is no stranger to tuition woes. The university's tuition guarantee, which kept tuition increases at or below inflation for seven of the past 10 years, was suspended in 2001.

MSU Trustee Donald Nugent said for either of the House bills to have merit, the U.S. government should balance its budget, as state governments do.

"If you are going to hold states accountable at the rate of inflation, then federal dollars have to be accountable at rate of inflation," he said. "You can't just have a one-legged stool."

Nugent added that the bills don't take into account the poor economic shape most states are in.

"To suggest their is a pot of gold buried on a university campus is simply not true," he said.

Staff writer Tina Reed contributed to this report.

Antonio Planas can be reached at planasan@msu.edu.