In a speech to the National Press Club, that just concluded a few minutes ago, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings laid out her vision for improving higher education. Many of the recommendations Spellings discussed were released in a report by the same commission that she entrusted to examine higher education’s future. Among those that spellings discussed were increases in need-based financial aid, improving the financial aid process, hold high schools more accountable in preparing students for college, and creating a system to have information on student progress.
Even though Spellings said she did not “envision or want a national system of higher education,” it’s clear that some of these recommendations will do just that. Instead of reducing the federal government’s role in higher education, the commission and Spellings have laid out a plan that will increase the grip the federal government has on higher education.
CATO’s Neal McCluskey said it best today, saying:
“On the presumption that the federal government must do for higher education what it has done for elementary and secondary schooling, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is calling for huge new federal intrusions into America’s colleges and universities. Higher education doesn’t need more federal control, it needs less, because American schools’ ability to specialize and compete — not to follow rules and regulations — are what make them the envy of the world.”
It will be interesting to see what Congress does with many of these recommendations. With the election a month away, Congress will likely not act on these changes until the start of the 110th Congress in January. That should give the public enough time to ask themselves an important question: “Do we really want more federal government involvement in higher education?”
