U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings this month outlined her plans for higher education and also calmed fears about the role of the federal government on accountability measures and tuition regulations.

In a Feb. 4 interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Spellings said the administration's efforts will focus on providing better information to parents and students in selecting higher education institutions, including financial aid options.  The government does not provide enough accessible and easy-to-use information, she noted, and the public has to rely too much on rankings published by such publications as US News and World Report and The Princeton Review. 

Some critics worry that as one of the main architects of the No Child Left Behind Act, Spellings will try to extend strict accountability standards to colleges and universities.  In the interview though, she said that federal accountability would not be a priority for the adminstriation. She also reiterated that government regulation of tuition costs would not be a focus of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

"It's gratifying that Secretary Spellings understands how wrong it would be to impose price controls and other misguided accountability schemes for higher education," said William Scheuerman, president of the United University Professions/ SUNY and chair of the AFT Higher Education program and policy council, in commenting on the interview. "Providing information to students and their parents is important, but she should also evaluate the current formula used to calculate graduation rates, which is not of any real value"

When asked about campuses being perceived as having a liberal bias, Spellings said that it should be up to the states and the governing boards to make sure a variety of views were represented on campuses.  She did not believe, however, that it was an issue that warranted federal involvement.

The interview took place at the end of Spellings' first official week as U.S. Secretary of Education and was the first time she commented on higher education issues since her confirmation hearing.  [Julie Berry]

Feb. 16, 2005