Fleischer says some worry that requiring a B average will induce grade inflation at colleges and universities across the country and that verifying academic performance for so many students would pose a logistical nightmare.

"Are students going to be required to send report cards to the IRS?" Fleischer asks.

Those questions and others will be considered when the House Ways and Means Committee convenes hearings in February, Fleischer says. The Ways and Means Committee will share jurisdiction over the President's proposals with the House Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee.

Capitol Hill staffers say that compromises between the Democratic and Republican plans will likely be made in these committees, though the lack of discretionary funding favors new aid programs that rely on tax breaks as opposed to appropriations.

"If there's any new money [for college aid], all indications are that it will come from changes in the tax code," says Nan F. Nixon, Harvard's lobbyist in Washington for tax and education issues.

On the Senate side, hearings will likely be held as well. The Labor and Human Resources Committee, with recently elected Chair James Jeffords (R-Vt.), will share jurisdiction with the Senate Finance Committee.

According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jeffords is more moderate than most of his Republican colleagues and is expected to give the President's plans a fair hearing.

These college aid proposals come just as Congress prepares to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, which expires in September. That law authorizes almost all of the college financial assistance the federal government provides, including well-known programs such as Pell Grants and Stafford Loans.

The Democratic leadership in the Senate is expected to sponsor an education bill in late January which would contain the President's college aid proposals, Nixon says.

Stalwarts on the Democratic side, such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.), can be counted on to back the President's education initiatives whole-heartedly, according to Kennedy Press Secretary Jim Manley.

Citing statistics that college costs rose by 123 percent from 1980 to 1990, Manley says, "We share President Clinton's goal of making college more accessible and affordable for all students."

"We held the line with student loans in the last Congress, now we're looking forward to passing the President's initiatives," Manley says