With student loan debt pushing past $1 trillion, Vice President Joe Biden, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Robert Holub, and representatives from the New York, Maryland, and Texas state university systems and six other institutions announced an unprecedented effort to let the sun shine in on higher education financial aid.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Elizabeth Warren’s brainchild, came up with a financial aid “shopping sheet.” Beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year, the new form promises to demystify the aid process for students entering the participating institutions. The sheet will include net costs to students after deducting grants and scholarships and list estimated monthly payments on federal students loans.

Too bad that the program is largely symbolic. Using the sheet is voluntary, and the number of participating institutions constitutes a drop in the bucket considering that there are nearly 4,500 two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities in the US.  

As UMass signed on to a new era of financial transparency in Washington, back home in Dartmouth, the board of trustees’ financial oversight committee voted to slap students with a 4.9 percent fee hike for the upcoming school year to help plug a $63 million budget deficit.  Gov. Deval Patrick is not pleased with the increase, but UMass President Robert Caret isn’t backing down.

Since tuition and fee rates continue skyward, being less cryptic about a financial aid process that would that would stump a CPA and cripples graduates’ finances is a good step to ensure that students and their families understand what they are signing up for.

What’s nowhere in sight is the relief that students need from the high cost of college. Congress is still dithering over student loan debt relief. Lawmakers have yet to agree to a plan that would keep federal Stafford student loan rates at 3.2 percent.

If no congressional solution to offset set the low interest rates with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget emerges, those rates are set to double on July 1. Democrats are mulling over the latest Republican proposal, which would make federal employees pay more into their pension funds, restrict other student loan subsidies, and tinker with Medicaid provider taxes. Many students appear to be resigned to indebtedness. Even more ominous is the disturbing phenomenon of students who, despite receiving financial aid, can’t afford to pay tuition and drop out with mounds of debt and no degree.

What’s it going to take for American students to get mad as hell and not take it any more? Hard to say. Even the Occupy movement, fueled in part by students’ outrage over debt, has fizzled out. North of the border, student reaction to tuition hikes in Quebec (most Canadian students attend public colleges and universities where tuition rates are set by the provinces) couldn’t be more different from their American compadres.

In mid-February, Quebec officials announced that the deeply subsidized tuition rates would increase from $2,200 to $3,800. Students went on strike and the riots and related protests have turned Montreal upside down over the past four months. With the unrest unlikely to wind down anytime soon, city businesses are fretting about the ramifications for the summer tourist season. Negotiations between the striking students and the government broke down last week and the Quebec premier may be forced to call a new election if the situation continues to deteriorate.

                                                                                                                                                    –GABRIELLE GURLEY

BEACON HILL

Lt. Gov. Tim Murray will meet, counsel at his side, with state and federal investigators who are looking into the scandal involving the former head of the Chelsea Housing Authority, a chief Murray ally and fundraiser.

Backers of the proposed “right to repair” bill say they have gathered enough signatures to place the question on the ballot.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

After a dispute over stray bullets that ended in the closure of the local gun club, Scituate officials are pondering changes in the town’s hunting bylaws to protect residents.

The acting fire chief who was ousted by Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk says he accepts her decision and will work with new leadership, the Gloucester Times reports.

CASINOS

A group of Taunton taxpayers is eyeing a possible suit to block the sale of industrial land to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe for its planned casino, claiming the zoning restrictions don’t allow the land to be used for that purpose.

The grand plan for a casino at Suffolk Downs is rolled out. Greater Boston takes a look at the plan for Suffolk Downs. Keller@Large doubts community backlash will derail the plan because there’s already been gambling there for decades so not much will change. The Item in Lynn has this report.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Republican Scott Walker wins the recall race, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. The National Review does a giddy victory jig over Walker’s win and says look out, Obama. Time analyzes the victory. USA Today says that Walker’s victory is more about Wisconsin than anything else.  The Washington Post’s Dan Balz also downplays the election as a November preview.

The Senate blocks a pay equity bill for women.

California’s gay marriage ban has a clear path to the Supreme Court.

ELECTION 2012

The American Spectator says Mitt Romney’s education initiative could make the Romney Revolution as big as the Reagan Revolution.

Great headline over a story in the Los Angeles Times: “Have they no Seamus? Tipster claims hack of Romney email.”

Elizabeth Childs, who’s running to replace Barney Frank, is fighting off criticism that she’s a closet Democrat.

Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown agree to two televised debates, but the debate continues over further debates.

EDUCATION

The state receiver running the Lawrence schools says he wouldn’t be surprised if one of two more schools are declared underperforming next year, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

Worcester officials call for an independent third party to develop a long-term school budget, the Telegram & Gazette reports.

The decision by the superintendent of the Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School to tow the union president’s truck from graduation ceremonies has escalated the bitter contract dispute between the school and teachers.

The Kennedy family’s’ Hyannisport home hosts its first tour for students.

HEALTH CARE

A new initiative seeks to make Worcester the healthiest city in America by 2020, NECN reports.

Josh Archambault of the Pioneer Institute says the payment reform legislation now pending is not the cure for the cost inflation that ails the state’s health care system.

TRANSPORTATION

MBTA officials want answers from the head of a South Korean company that is way behind schedule on a $190 million contract for new commuter rail cars.

With Americans driving less, what will happen to the parking lot? Governing asks.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

A lockout at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant cannot be a good thing.

Voters at Dartmouth’s Town Meeting approved tighter restrictions on commercial wind projects.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Police colleagues recall the wit and warmth of fallen Springfield Officer Kevin Ambrose.

PARTY ANIMALS

New Bedford animal control officials found a four-foot alligator and a pit bull hanging out in an abandoned apartment.

MEDIA

The Herald accuses MassINC of selling influence in CommonWealth, in a piece that comes complete with commentary from Secretary of State Bill Galvin. Northeastern journalism professor and former CommonWealth contributor (disclosure) Dan Kennedy draws a link between the Herald story and CommonWealth’s recent look at the Herald’s Gidget moment.

The Wilson Quarterly, a wonky Washington magazine, is abandoning its print publication and going all digital, the Nieman Journalism Lab reports.

Howard Owens says David Simon is wrong about paywalls, in Columbia Journalism Review.