Dive Brief:

• The American Association of State Colleges and Universities has a plan it says would encourage states to invest in their public universities by using federal money as incentives.
• The Federal-State College Affordability Partnership would use $15 billion in federal funding to reward states that make college more affordable.
• The AASCU argues that without such a program, states will continue to pull money from higher education and place a college degree farther out of reach of low- and middle-income families.

Dive Insight:

The most intriguing part of the proposal is that it does not call for new spending, but rather tweaking how the current level of funding is distributed. If you're asking Congress for something, your chances are much improved if it doesn't require new spending.