The annoying sound bites are history, as are the endless sea of yard signs.

Soon the United States will have a new Congress, one filled with sweeping promises and more than a little naivete.

Perhaps it is an ideal time to remind the new majority of their stated goal to increase college access for young people who simply cannot afford college.

Members of the House and Senate, in a show of bipartisanship, should first focus on the Pell Grant program, a principal source of federal assistance for low-income college students. It clearly is in trouble, thus slamming the door of opportunity on too many.

President Bush could strike a needed blow for progress if he would join with the soon-to-be-impaneled legislators in supporting a program that is increasingly out of sync with the level of demonstrated need.

These simple facts make the case:

¢ Spending on Pell Grants fell last year for the first time in six years and the average Pell Grant failed to keep up with inflation for the fourth year in a row;

¢ It has been four years since Congress hiked the minimum annual Pell Grant (and then by only $50) bringing the top grant total for a student who has no parental support to $4,050; and

¢ Tuition and fees at a typical four-year public college or university will approximate $6,000 this year.

“Tuition and fee costs have slowed in the past three years, but prices are still up 35 percent from 5 years ago,” Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, said recently.

He also said the College Board, which generates timely data on trends in college pricing, continues to “advocate for need-based aid, so that more students can have the opportunity to benefit from a college education. Though student aid makes it possible for many students from low and middle-income families to afford college, we still face inequality in access to higher education across ethnic, racial, and economic lines.”

One needs to remember that tuition and fees represent only a fraction of the total cost of attending college. When living costs and other education-related expenses are considered, for example, tuition and fees constitute 36 percent of the budget for an in-state residential student at public four-year institution of higher learning.

Unusually high increases in tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in recent years have come because of shortfalls in state and local tax revenues. Students and their families have been asked to shoulder a disproportionate load, one that has discouraged many promising young minds.

Government loans also have not kept pace with escalating costs. As government assistance has declined, loans from private lending institutions have soared, climbing to 20 percent of all education borrowing last year, up from 12 percent five years earlier.

The end result is mounting debt for more and more college students. Their undergraduate degrees carry a hefty price tag, which is clearly not a path to greater equality in America.

Throughout his presidency, George W. Bush has spoken about the importance of higher education and the economy. He has cited a growing income inequity. He now has a chance to support his words with action that would lift student aid and the dreams of many of the deserving poor.

Larger Pell Grants would be a first and needed step in the right direction, but it alone will not eliminate the crisis. States must become proactive in revisiting access policy and make needed changes that will encourage the disadvantaged.