Several Democratic members of Congress yesterday called for the suspension of a bureaucratic adjustment that will likely increase college costs for millions of families.

Senator Jon Corzine, Democrat of New Jersey, introduced legislation to stop the new rules, while Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, promised to put forward a bill of his own. Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, said he would do the same if President Bush did not "stop this change dead in its tracks."

Late last month, the Education Department altered the formula used to determine how the vast majority of the nation's $90 billion in financial aid is distributed.

The changes, made within the department's statutory authority but without public input, are expected to reduce the government's contribution to higher education by hundreds of millions of dollars, tighten access to billions more in state and institutional grants and shrink the pool of students who qualify for federal awards.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said the department should explain "what these bureaucratic changes will mean to families trying to send their children to college," and that any flaws in the logic governing them must be "corrected."

Similarly, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, described the changes as "closing the door to college," adding that he will ask the General Accounting Office to analyze the changes.

In a letter to Education Secretary Rod Paige, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who is running for president, questioned why the revision was being made now, when its carries "such a potentially devastating impact for college students across the country."

At the heart of the changes, which take effect in the fall of 2004, is a modification to the amount of state and local taxes that families can deduct when calculating how much discretionary income they have left over for college.

Even though state and local taxes have risen over the last year, the department cut the deduction this year, by more than half in some cases. On paper, at least, that leaves families with more money for tuition and other education expenses.

How much more money families may be expected to contribute will vary greatly, primarily because each family has a unique set of financial circumstances.

An independent analysis by Human Research Capital, an educational consulting firm, shows that some low-income families may owe an additional $100 or less, while others earning $80,000 may be expected to contribute over $1,000 more.