Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; and Higher Education Funding

As Congress finally passes the sweeping college legislation, 5 years late, views on its significance and potential impact vary widely.

House-Senate panel reaches agreement on compromise legislation to renew the Higher Education Act, prompting more relief than satisfaction.

Many Republicans join Democrats in backing legislation to ratchet up scrutiny of college spending and pricing, toughen student loan oversight, and ease aid application.

The U.S. House of Representatives has taken a step toward approving a Hollywood-backed spending bill requiring universities to consider offering "alternatives" and "technology-based deterrents" to illegal peer-to-peer file sharing.

"The House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee unanimously approved legislation to renew the Higher Education Act Thursday — a measure about which college officials have ambivalent feelings."

"The latest salvo in the entertainment industry’s campaign against illegal downloading of movies and music — aided and abetted by Congress — is wrong, and students should help fight it, Kenneth C. Green argues."

"If the Higher Education Act bill that House Democrats introduced late last week did not persuade college leaders that the issue of college prices is and will remain front and center on the federal policy agenda, the House education committee’s consideration of the legislation Wednesday should once and for all."

"House Democrats introduce Higher Education Act bill that would shame institutions that raise prices sharply; 747-page measure would increase federal role in other ways, too - including provisions in which schools would report on illegal file sharing."

New federal legislation says universities must agree to provide not just deterrents but also "alternatives" to peer-to-peer piracy, such as paying monthly subscription fees to the music industry for their students, on penalty of losing all financial aid for their students.

"By a vote of 95 to 0, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to renew the Higher Education Act that would, among many other things, raise the ceiling for the maximum Pell Grant to $6,300, make it easier for students to apply for federal financial aid, sharply restrict the relationships between lenders and colleges, ramp up scrutiny of colleges that raise tuitions sharply, and scuttle the Education Department committee that recognizes accrediting agencies. The passage of the legislation means that within the space of five days, senators passed two mammoth bills — the other a budget reconciliation measure that would shift billions of dollars in federal funds from lenders to students — that could reshape federal higher education policy for years to come. "