College Tuition

Democrats want to use a combination of federal grants, tax deductions and lower interest rates on loans to make college more accessible.

They propose to increase the maximum size of Pell grants, the subsidy given to financially needy college students by the federal government, from $4,050 to $5,100. The size of the grants has not increased in five years, and Democrats say the grants are not keeping pace with rapidly rising college costs. Thirty years ago, a Pell grant paid 80 percent of the cost of a public four-year college education. Today, it covers about one-third. Increasing the Pell grants is expected to cost $17.3 billion and affect 5.72 million students annually, Democrats said.

Party leaders also want a 100 percent tax credit for college tuition up to $3,000 annually. And they want to cut interest rates for some student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, which they estimate would cost $18 billion over five years. Banks, which make a tidy profit on student loans, are likely to oppose that measure.