Nationwide Higher Education Reform?

I have a bad feeling about this:

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents expressed confidence Friday that if federal officials launch a sweeping nationwide effort to reform higher education, state institutions will be well-prepared to accommodate changes.

Higher education reform has been on the minds of university administrators nationwide since the U.S. Department of Education-initiated Spellings Commission Report recommended last month that universities across the country employ dramatic changes, especially in revamping financial aid and increasing accountability in academic programs.

What drastic changes?

System Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he fully expects significant action by legislators to implement many of the reports' recommendations, which includes the creation of a publicly available national database containing academic success scores and financial data on institutions across the country.

"I think my friends in education should be breathing a sigh of relief that we didn't [define a standard] in nine months" of working on the report, Charlene Nunley, President of Montgomery College, who also served on the Spellings Commission, said at the meeting.

The report's recommendation to revamp financial aid also became a focus at the meeting, as one of the goals of the Spelling Commission is to address affordability concerns, especially for minorities and low-income families.

"These kinds of groups are trying to wrestle with the question of whether or not college will be affordable to citizens," Provost William Destler said in an interview. "I think that is certainly a root problem and one of the motivating factors behind all these studies of higher education."

University administrators here frequently tout their commitment to pursuing need-based financial aid, citing the Maryland Pathways Program - which combines need-based financial aid with a debt-reduction program for low-income students - and the $350 million fundraising target for scholarships in the university's $1 billion campaign as prime examples of the university's dedication.

But the report also makes several recommendations about the "confusing [federal] financial aid system that spends too little on those who need help the most." Regents and other officials said the report's recommendation that 19 federal financial aid programs merge into one would be a dramatic and much-needed step.

Spellings Commission? Academic success scores? Financial aid? How come the Conservative Controlled Media never report this Commission?

Stay Tuned.

P.S. Instead of implimenting financial aid reform, why not introduce expense-free higher education? Free tuition, and room and board. It would be simple to create and finance. Just think Single-Payer National Health Care, but for universities and colleges.