College could soon become a possibility for more students across the country. The U.S. House passed a bill that changes the rules for student lending, and it pumps out billions of dollars in financial aid.

Jessica Gambacurta is two semesters away from graduating at the University of Rochester. She is a religion and international relations double major from Webster. Gambacurta says she decided on the university only after learning she would not have to pay on her own.

“The financial aid was really the lynch pin,” she said, “and I probably would not have been able to afford coming here had I not gotten a financial aid package, which of course included the Pell Grant."

A bill going through Congress would give more students the same opportunity. Congressman Dan Maffei voted in favor of it Thursday. He talked Friday about how it could get more students to college, even those in low-income families.

“Any student who works hard, who is interested can go to college, and that's the most important thing I think this bill does," he said.

The bill, that the House has approved, states that college loans would come directly from the federal government. The bill essentially cuts subsidies to private lenders.

In doing so, the government estimates an $80 billion savings. That money would go to community colleges, early childhood education and increasing the amount of Pell grants from $5,350 to $6,900 by 2019.

At the U of R, 21 percent of the students receive Pell Grants. Financial aid officials hope more help from the federal government will allow more students to consider the university, where tuition costs about $50,000 a year.

“To the extent that people perceive financial aid is easy to get to and available, places like this start to feel more real,” said Jonathan Burdick, the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid.

Gambacurta is expected to receive her degree in the spring, and instead of paying off an overwhelming amount of student loans, she says she will be heading to graduate school or the workforce.

"The opportunity to get a grant and realize this is a way to fund my education without so much worry was really nice," she said.

More students could soon have the same chance. The bill now heads to the Senate.

There has been some controversy surrounding the bill. Some banks are not happy with the plan to cut private lenders out of the student loan equation. If the bill passes, they say of hundreds of people could lose their jobs.