With colleges throughout the city welcoming back students for the fall semester, Reps. Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney are touting a plan to combat the rising costs in higher education.

“The combination of inadequate Pell Grants and high interest rates for Stafford Loans saddle college students and their families in New York,” said Mr. Weiner at a press conference yesterday in front of Baruch College in Manhattan.

Mr. Weiner, Ms. Maloney, and several of their Democratic colleagues in New York’s congressional delegation are proposing to raise the maximum award of federal Pell Grants, which aid in college tuition payments for low- and middle income households, while slashing interest rates in half on federal Stafford Loans. The plan also calls for a $3,000 tax credit for college tuition.

The proposal comes on the heels of a report by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Government Reform that examines the rising costs of college tuitions in New York and the inability of the federal government’s financial aid programs to keep pace.

According to the study, the average annual cost of attending CUNY and SUNY colleges has risen by 30% in the past four years. During the same period the average increase in Pell grants was 4%.

The amount of money a student can receive from a Pell Grant is need-based, with a ceiling of $4,050. This proposal would raise the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100 per student, increasing the cost of the program by an estimated $4.4 billion.

Also, the evaluation argues that the current 6.8% interest rate on Stafford Loans, the highest point in 16 years, doesn’t correlate with the average income of New Yorkers, which has remained flat between 2001 and 2005.

If passed, the plan would cut interest rates on federally funded Stafford Loans to 3.4% from 6.8%, saving the average New York graduate $5,528 over the life of a standard 15-year loan.