WASHINGTON —  Congress on Thursday sent to President Bush the first major overhaul in a decade of the federal higher education act, giving strong, bipartisan backing to a bill aimed at making college more accessible and affordable for hundreds of thousands of low-income, minority, military and disabled students.

The legislation would give prospective students more information about college tuitions and textbook costs, simplify application procedures and make Pell Grants, the main federal aid program for low-income students, available year-round.

The Senate approved the measure 83-8 hours after the House passed it on a 380-49 vote. The White House has complained that the legislation creates new costly and duplicative programs, but President Bush is expected to sign it.

The bill "takes major steps to expand college access and affordability," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement, noting that every year an estimated 780,000 qualified students don't attend four-year colleges because they can't afford it.

Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has for years led negotiations to rewrite a federal higher education act that passed in 1998 and expired five years ago. He had to cede that leading role when he took leave two months ago to be treated for a brain tumor, but won praise from both Republicans and Democrats for steering the legislation toward passage.

The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, echoed Kennedy in voicing high expectations for the bill, saying it takes "historic steps to provide students with the tools, the means and the power to get a higher education."

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who filled in after Kennedy became ill, acknowledged the difficulty in coming to conclusion on the 1,100-page bill. "I feel like we've been on third base for 6 1/2 years," she said.

Passage comes a year after Congress, concerned about the soaring costs of going to college, took other steps, including cutting interest rates on student loans, raising Pell Grants and redirecting billions of dollars from lender subsidies to programs targeting students more directly.

This bill focuses more on transparency: It requires the Education Department to publish detailed data about college pricing trends on its Web sites and requires the top 5 percent of colleges with the greatest cost increases over three years to explain those cost rises to the Education Department.

Textbook publishers must share pricing information with professors and "unbundle" materials so students can buy only those materials they need for their classes. The practice of bundling textbooks with supplementary materials such as CDs is one reason textbooks cost about $900 per student every year, according to a 2005 government study.

"To address soaring costs this legislation will address the transparency and the accountability of the tuition pricing system, shining a bright light on the prices set by colleges and universities," House Education Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., said.

Among other provisions, the bill:

_Strengthens restrictions on lenders, guaranty agencies and colleges offering or accepting payments and gifts as a condition of making student loans.

_Allows military service members to defer payments, interest-free, on federal loans while they are on active duty. Provides in-state tuition for service members and their dependents who have lived in a state for more than 30 days.

_Simplifies the federal aid application process and provides more protections and disclosure for students taking out private loans.

_Increases Pell Grants from $6,000 in 2009 to $8,000 for 2014, and allows low-income students to receive the grants year-round, not just for fall and spring semesters.

_Creates a new program to expand postsecondary opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities.

_Promotes teacher preparation programs for K-12 teachers and programs to place high-quality teachers in high-need schools.

_Takes steps to expand the nation's supply of nurses by approving funds to expand nursing school faculties.

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The bill is H.R. 4137

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On the Net:

Bill text: http://thomas.loc.gov

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