"Sen. Charles E. Grassley appears to be backing away from his threat to offer legislation that would require the wealthiest institutions to spend up to 5 percent of their endowment assets each year," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "At a panel discussion on Capitol Hill on Monday, Mr. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, strongly hinted that he would abandon his plan if colleges continued to increase their spending on financial aid. 'I would like to encourage you folks to look inward and see what could be self-corrected, and that would make everyone's job a lot easier,' he said. He also expressed 'gratitude' to those colleges that have already increased the amount they spend on student aid."

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Other Media Coverage

College Presidents Defend Rising Tuition, but Lawmakers Sound Skeptical (The New York Times)