Federal Bill Would Redirect Funds from New England Colleges, Study Says.

By Marcella Bombardieri, The Boston Globe Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 30--A bill under consideration in Congress would sharply cut federal financial-aid money for several New England colleges, including Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the University of Maine, and the University of New Hampshire, according to an analysis by the American Council on Education.

The changes would potentially cost public colleges and universities in Massachusetts about $5.6 million a year. The institution losing the most money would be Northeastern, which would give up $3.8 million, according to the ACE projections.

As it prepares to renew the Higher Education Act, Congress is considering a proposal to change the way it allocates money in three major financial-aid programs. Proponents of the change argued the old system for parceling out funds disproportionately benefited schools in the Northeast, which locked in their portion of the benefits when the bill was revised in 1980.

The new formula proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would shift more money to the newly populous states of the South and West, and toward community colleges and for-profit ...