"Congress wants to blow the whistle on colleges that raise tuition sharply, while helping students pay less for textbooks and making Pell grants available year-round - part of a wide-ranging bill designed to address concerns about rising college costs," the Associated Press reports. "Under the legislation, students could get earlier warning about which textbooks they'll need for class, giving them more time to shop around, while professors would see more information on prices when they're choosing which books to assign. Colleges that impose severe tuition increases, meanwhile, could be shamed on a government watch list. The sprawling Higher Education Act that the House is considering Thursday contains mostly small and midsize steps aimed at addressing college costs. Lawmakers refrained from bigger steps like price controls, instead hoping more transparency will lead to lower prices. Will it do much good? Depends on whom you ask."