This from Morning Education (via email):
Speculation about the Education Department's college ratings plan is running high; it's expected out Friday
and university administrators are anxious for details. On the Hill,
meanwhile, Republicans are already going on the attack. They see the
ratings plan as another example of the administration meddling in the
free market and attempting to imposing its own values on millions of
students.
"They're getting involved in something they have no business
getting involved with," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, herself a former
college administrator. "Absolutely, it's overreach."
Education Secretary
Arne Duncan has called ratings a moral imperative, vital both to help
families make wise choices
and to protect taxpayers' $150 billion-a-year investment in federal
student aid. But the opposition on the Hill means it will be almost
impossible for the administration to attach consequences to the ratings.
Duncan had hoped the department could start steering more federal aid
to highly-rated campuses (and less to laggards) by 2018. That would
require Congressional approval, however - and no one thinks that's going
to happen.
States, meanwhile, have moved aggressively to
implement performance-based funding for colleges and universities. At
least 25 states now allocate some higher education funding based on
metrics such as how long it takes students to earn a degree, how many
low-income students graduate or how many STEM degrees are awarded.
The
amount of funding at stake varies from 5 percent to 25 percent of the
state's higher education appropriations. States experimenting with the
model include Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Tennessee.
2 comments:
I have said it before but I just wonder what is going to happen when alumni from the big dog universities start seeing their alma mater scored low and federal student aid reduced. Between the college presidents spinning the inaccuracy of their evaluations and the legislators being dogged by their fellow alumnus to shoot down this effort, I don't see this going anywhere.
As a matter of fact, one could actually flip it and ask why states and feds are expecting more from universities but providing less support for those institutions and those students most at risk who are chosing to attend. Really makes one wonder when you start thinking about a federal government holding back tax $ from state universities. How does that make education better or expand opportunities?
Kind of scary if you applied the same approach to Title money and K-12 performance. Sorry Owsley County, Uncle Sam will no longer be sending Title funds to your district because your college career readiness or NAEP scores aren't showing progress. Just close down your schools and have the kids go to two counties over to get K-12 education title funds. Just astounding to see federal government looking for ways of justifying the transgression of federal/state constitutional authority.
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