A multifaceted coalition of higher education advocates and lobbyists are petitioning the U.S. Department of Education to make major changes to federal financial aid.

The groups are calling for an overhaul of the national system of student loans, which college officials worry are the main cause of rising levels of student debt.

The petition is a rare move for lobbyists, who usually advocate specific politicians to change policy.

In this case, the coalition decided to take their case straight to U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who created the Commission on Higher Education earlier this year to review and possibly revise a litany of federal college policies.

“To ensure that low-income students meet their full potential through higher education, the secretary has the duty to improve the current regulations so that more students are able to manage debt repayment and low-income students are not deterred from pursuing higher education,” the coalition stated in its petition.

The group’s recommendations included reductions to a borrower’s payments when they exceed a set proportion of their discretionary income and to lower from 25 to 20 the number of years after which the government would discharge the remaining loan balance of a borrower who has regularly made “manageable” payments.

To bolster its claim that American student debt is skyrocketing, the coalition commissioned a survey that, among other things, showed about 66 percent of students say that affording college is becoming increasingly difficult.

Current polices — especially those governing loan repayment — are “inconsistent, confusing, and contradictory” and “do not provide clear and meaningful protections to borrowers who make good faith efforts to meet their obligations,” stated the coalition, which is composed of several highprofile college groups including the United States Student Association and the state Public Interest Research Groups.

The Department of Education has not publicly commented on the petition or said how it will respond. If recent congressional action is any evidence, however, politicians are wary of reforming student aid. In February, Congress cut about $12 billion from federal student loans. Under the plan, the interest rates of several loans rose, forcing many college advocates to cry foul over the makeup of federal financial aid.