Bush Administration’s New Vision for Higher Education Raises Commitment Questions
By Charles Dervarics
News Analysis
Two issues are already front and center when debating U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ new vision for American higher education: the depth of the Bush administration’s commitment to increased financial aid and the privacy concerns inherent in a proposed federal database of student information.
Advocacy groups and lawmakers are zeroing in quickly on the two hot-button issues the secretary outlined in an address to the National Press Club late last month. Expanding financial aid is not a given in the current budget climate, and the federal database threatens to pit reformers against conservatives with privacy concerns.
In a speech following the release of “A Test of Leadership,” the final report by the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, Spellings called for more need-based financial aid but did not provide specifics. She noted, however, that the nation’s higher education system is often “self-satisfied and unduly expensive.”
According to some officials, one early sign of the administration’s commitment to financial aid is the upcoming budget discussions for fiscal years 2007 and 2008.
“Step one of her plan should be to convince the president to immediately increase the Pell Grant to $5,100, as he has promised to do repeatedly,” says U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
However, President Bush has proposed a Pell Grant freeze for fiscal year 2007, and the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, while encouraging, is only recommending a $100 increase in its budget blueprint for next year.
