📋 Tender Overview
Listen to audio from Senator Grassley HERE
WASHINGTON - Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) reintroduced three bipartisan bills to help students and families make informed decisions when choosing a college and taking out loans.
From the initial college search, to the acceptance of financial aid, to counseling once in college, the bills would help students avoid sticker shock, find the best school for their budget and avoid taking out ill-advised and oversized loans.
When it comes to college costs, we ought to focus on fixing the process on the front-end before students get in over their heads. The federal government should be offering commonsense resources to better prepare borrowers. Our bipartisan bills will provide additional counseling, resources and clarity to the student loan process so that students can know before they owe. Im working to help Americas next generation pursue higher education opportunities without breaking the bank, Grassley said.
We need to better equip students and their families with information about the costs of college, from the initial search all the way up to when they receive financial aid offers. My bipartisan bills with Senator Grassley would help fix these problems, Smith said. Among other things, we would ensure that financial aid offers can be easily compared between schools, because time and again students and families are faced with inconsistent and incomplete information, making apples-to-apples comparisons impossible. These reforms will help students have more transparency when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives--how to pay for college and take the next step in their education.
Legislative Summaries:
The Net Price Calculator Improvement Act would improve the effectiveness of and access to net price calculators. Net price calculators provide students with early, individualized estimates of higher education costs and financial aid figures before they decide where to apply. Rep. Brett Guthrie (Ky.) plans to introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives. A summary of the Net Price Calculator Improvement Act is available HERE.
The Understanding the True Cost of College Act would create a universal financial aid offer form and standardize terms used to describe financial aid to allow students to more easily compare financial aid packages between schools. This move aims to prevent troubling findings by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that over 90% of college financial aid offer letters currently understate the price students would pay. Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) are original cosponsors of the bill, and Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. A summary of the Understanding the True Cost of College Act is available HERE.
The Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act would strengthen the Higher Education Act to enhance the current loan counseling requirements for institutions of higher education. The bill would make loan counseling an annual requirement before new loans are disbursed, rather than a one-time requirement for first-time borrowers. The legislation would also allow students to decide exactly how much they would like to borrow, rather than offering the maximum possible loan amount as the default option. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) plans to introduce companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. A summary of the Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act is available HERE.
Background:
Grassley has long warned of the fiscal danger posed by blanket cancelation after the fact and is an advocate for increased transparency to empower prospective and current students. Last Congress, Grassley joined Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in introducing the Student Transparency for Understanding Decisions in Education Net Terms (STUDENT) Act to provide student loan applicants with an estimate of the total amount of interest they would pay prior to accepting a loan.
Click HERE for audio of Grassley discussing this trio of bills, as well as the Education Departments announcement that it will resume collections for federal borrowers with defaulted loans on May 5.
Support for the Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act:
Education Finance Council supports Senator Grassleys efforts to improve federal student loan counseling. Students deserve regular and more comprehensive information about paying for postsecondary education, and the Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act equips them with the tools they need to make informed decisions, said Gail daMota, President, Education Finance Council.
NACAC supports the Know Before You Owe Federal Student Loan Act of 2025 as a critical step toward ensuring students receive clear, personalized, and timely information about borrowing. Strengthening loan counseling requirements will help students make informed decisions, minimize unnecessary debt, and navigate a more equitable path to higher education, said Angel Perez, CEO, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
Support for the Understanding the True Cost of College Act:
At uAspire, we advise students every day on finding an affordable path to college--and we see firsthand how confusing and inconsistent financial aid offers can be. Too often, students struggle to understand how much theyll actually owe or compare costs between schools. Financial aid offers must clearly communicate what students are expected to pay. Were grateful to Senators Grassley, Smith, Hassan, and Tuberville and Representative Kim for leading the Understanding the True Cost of College Act, which would bring much-needed clarity and transparency to the process, said Anika Van Eaton, Vice President of Policy, uAspire
As a longtime advocate for financial aid transparency and consumer protection, I know firsthand how confusing and opaque financial aid offers can be--both from my time coun
