I was pleasantly surprised to read of a bipartisan effort on the part of Congress to make the college financial aid process more transparent and beneficial across the country.

House Bill H.R. 4187, or the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, recently passed the House by a 354-58 vote. It calls for greater transparency in the process of allotting federal and private student loans. It also puts pressure on universities to control rapidly rising tuition and fees.

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Godfrey Ilonzo attends Westlake High School in Fulton County.

New Attitudes is a weekly opinion column written by readers between the ages of 15-22. E-mail submissions or questions to dbeasley@ajc.com or call 404-526-7371.

However, I most enjoy the fact that pressure from students and parents is quickly solidifying what has always seemed illusory: comprehensive financial aid reform.

This year alone, waves of universities have announced financial aid policy reform. Both Harvard and Yale, the nation's most heavily endowed universities, have introduced new policies that reduce the expected financial contributions of middle- and upper-middle-class families by half, as well as eliminate tuition for families making below $60,000 annually.

Similarly, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, another heavily endowed university, has completely removed loans, to be replaced with grants and scholarships in financial aid awards. Both Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania are doing the same.

Yet this trend is not reserved for schools in the Ivy League. Several prominent research universities such as Duke and Emory and liberal arts colleges Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford and Pomona have either removed loans completely or capped them at significant levels. The common denominator: strong endowments.

It is at this point that I imagine McGruff the Crime Dog secretly smiling in his khaki-colored trench coat, as beneficial policy takes a bite out of almost criminal financial aid policy, for everyone involved.

So you can imagine that I was mildly disappointed to discover quite the opposite. Some, it seems, are more concerned than excited by the prospects of significant reform sweeping the nation. Indeed, some have come close to condemning colleges whose endowments allow for comprehensive and competitive financial aid awards.

Karen Arenson, author of a recent article in The New York Times, "Endowments Widen a Higher Education Gap," and Herbert Allen's "Gold in the Ivory Tower" almost take such positions.

Of swelling endowments, the first writes, "The result is that America's already stratified system of higher education is becoming more so, and the chasm is creating all sorts of tensions as less wealthy colleges try to compete. Even state universities are going into fund-raising overdrive."

Competition is good, and swelling endowments are not the problem. If several of the nation's most financially endowed universities can tap heavily into their endowments in order to provide these beneficial reforms, then simple reason suggests that strong endowments are a boon.

Geraldine Fabrikant's November 2007 New York Times article, "How Smaller College Endowments Still Reap Big Returns" is notable testimony to the benefits that efforts to strengthen endowments have across the board. Even some small colleges such as Bowdoin, Hamilton and Furman are experiencing major investment growth in their endowments. Such caveats should serve to warn individuals eager to condemn wealthy universities as bastions of the money-hoarding.

Yes, we should demand that these institutions invest in alleviating the burdens on their students. However, we must be careful in our approach or risk doing more harm than good by false labeling. McGruff would be displeased otherwise.

Therefore, in fewer words: Let colleges compete.

For families like my own, a less pragmatic view is hardly an option. I have gained early admission to Yale and will be attending in the fall. However, with an older sister in her second year at Dartmouth — soon to be entering medical school — and a younger sister whose college education could run upwards of $60,000 if things don't change now, reality is hardly unproblematic.

So HEAR YE! HEAR YE! I and my peers at Westlake High School encourage colleges in the race for comprehensive financial aid reform. On the mark, strengthen your endowments! Ready, set, go.