Federal Money for Higher Education?

America is a great nation that once led the world in many fields, metrics, and policy issues. Now, unfortunately, that is not always the case. In recent years there have been laws passed and programs generated to “correct the course” and “reform” the system… Two such endeavors are the Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind” and the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top”.

No Child Left Behind enacted the theories of standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, if those states are to receive federal funding for schools. The standards are set by each individual state. However idealistic this may sound what tends to happen is that teachers spend time teaching the students to pass these standardized tests (because the results are measured and reported) instead of simply teaching the material. States are praised for closing “poor performing” schools, which were the same schools that had little funding to begin with, they are praised when “eliminating” the “poor performing” teachers (generally those with no resources because… oh yeah, they had no funding), while those “high performing” schools continue to receive their funding and “high performing” teachers get raises based of these test results.

Race to the Top is quickly becoming one of most successful federal education programs in memory. Governors and legislatures nationwide have been scrambling to put major school reforms in place, all in hopes of grabbing a piece of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top pie. See the Race to the Top criteria for funding: Click Here

There is no Race to the Top or No Child Left Behind for higher education. But should there be? True, some colleges and universities snared millions of dollars from the stimulus bill with virtually no strings attached, but they got nothing like the support lavished on elementary and secondary education. And sure, there is a need for reform in many different levels: class sizes, transfer issues, graduation rates, teaching, college readiness, etc. But don’t let these institutions of higher learning fool you. They exist, like any business, to generate revenue. The State and Federal government only give subsidies (Dictionary.com – “Monetary assistance granted by a government to a person or group in support of an enterprise regarded as being in the public interest.”) to support the school because education is generally viewed as a public good.

Now, in the down economy they have received less in the way of subsidies and therefore the cost of attendance has risen (tuition being the chief source of revenue). We have seen tuition and fees almost skyrocket recently. Some schools have spent down their endowment; some have eliminated programs, cut faculty and staff, merged departments, and done everything short of becoming sponsored by a private company (Which sounds better: University of Nike or Coca-Cola College?) to remain open in the budget crunch.

The good news for higher education is that there is an immediate opportunity for all institutions of higher education to join this federal money race. Congress is now working to reform the student-loan industry by taking tens of billions of dollars in subsidies away from for-profit lenders and using the money to boost Pell Grants, improve public colleges, and enact policies designed to raise graduation rates. This is good news because we should start to see Pell Grants become larger and more students become eligible for them (thus increasing the amount of federal funding to each school – provided they enroll these financially needy students). Maybe colleges and universities that want federal funding beyond what is already given should seek these students instead of enlisting another huge reform package that may end like we’ve seen with previous Acts…