Consortium Seeks 'Coherent' Program Of College Finance

The 23-college Consortium on Financing Higher Education yesterday released a report recommending broad changes in Title IV student assistance programs of the Higher Education Act.

The report calls for changes in virtually all existing federally funded student financial assistance programs, aimed at their "consolidation and expansion," R. Jerrold Gibson '51, director of the University's student loan office and Harvard's representative to the consortium, said in a news conference last week.

The consortium last week submitted its report to the House Subcommittee on Post-Secondary Education, which is currently considering a financial assistance bill drafted by chairman James G. O'Hara (D- Mich.).

The report proposes modifications in the two major federal grant programs-the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program (BEOG) and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program (SEOG).

Under the consortium proposal, BEOG grants would be expanded to meet the average national tuition level of $2100, less an allowance for summer earnings of $500, giving any student with financial need access to a "zero-tuition" state institution.

BEOG grant increases would be supplemented by similar increases in the current State Student Incentive Program (SSIP), and in increased work-study programs.

Beyond the BEOG ceiling of $1600, students would be encouraged to obtain an additional $1000 through "increased opportunities for on-campus work," Gibson said.

Grants from the SEOG program would be expanded, and would be extended to families with gross incomes of "up to $19,000," he also said.

Credit Procedures

The report also proposes a number of measures which would simplify student credit procedures.

"By consolidating all types of student loans, by making the terms of all loans the same, and by generally equalizing loans, we would be taking a step toward better debt management," Gibson said.

Amy Nychis, director of financial aid at Wellesley and a member of the panel which drafted the report, agreed with Gibson that the loan proposals "would be a help to the federal government in its budget considerations."

Gibson said that the report seeks to raise the terms of student loans administered under the National Direct Student Loan program (NDSL) from 3 to 7 per cent in order to reduce delinquency in repayment.

Other Proposals

Webb Buell, administrative assistant to the Post-Secondary Education subcommittee, said last Friday that the consortium's report will be considered by the House group "along with the other proposals which we have received over the past few months from citizen's groups."

Among the other "citizen proposals" submitted to the subcommittee is a report issued last month by the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies.

The Carnegie report recommends the establishment of government "tuition equalization grants" to students at private colleges in order to equalize the relative financial burdens borne by students at public and private institutions.

Like the consortium's proposals, the Carnegie report calls for the expansion of existing federally-funded grant programs, and also seeks the establishment of a "National Student Loan Bank" to replace or supplement existing student loan programs.

"One important point, however, is the great potential cost of implementing the Carnegie plan," Gibson said. "We feel that the consortium report is somewhat realistic in terms of financial expectations."

Nychis said that implementation of the consortium's proposals would raise the cost of the present O'Hara bill from "about $2.15 billion to about $2.5 billion."

Dr. Margaret Gordon, associate director of the Carnegie Council and author of the council's report, said yesterday that the cost of implementing the Carnegie plan, when spread over a five-year period, would not greatly exceed the cost of the consortium's proposals.

"We're approaching the cost factor in a different way," she said. "We're asking that as the number of Vietnam era veterans receiving educational benefits declines, that money be diverted into general financial assistance programs, and this added money would substantially reduce our program's new costs."

No Final Conclusion

O'Hara said last week that he has not reached a conclusion on the final form of this bill.

According to Buell, as it now stands, the O'Hara bill "is very different from the proposals submitted to the subcommittee by citizen's groups-there's no doubt about it."

The O'Hara bill calls for a reduction in BEOG funding, the linking of SEOG grants to academic merit as well as financial need, and a gradual phasing out of NDSL and Guaranteed Student Loans.

Under the O'Hara bill, the current $300 million funding of the work-study programs would be doubled, putting more emphasis on student work and less on student grants and loans.

Buell said that the first draft of the bill was "based upon hearings held last year," and that "considerable revisions" in the bill may be expected before it is presented to the full House for final action as part of Title IV of, the Higher Education Act.

"I can't really guess when final action will come, but my feeling is that it should be by late spring or early summer," he said.

The consortium's report, entitled "Federal Student Assistance: A Review of Title IV of the Higher Education Act," is the result of a two-year study by the consortium, whose members include all the Ivy League colleges