Education policy crib sheet

By Sourav Bhowmick

6:59 p.m. March 29 2010

On Wednesday, April 7, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan could be taking your questions on higher education policy. The White House will be teaming up with HuffPo College to bring you “Open for Questions,” a live video chat with Sec. of Education Arne Duncan and Melody Barnes, the White House’s top domestic national policy adviser. But how will you craft that brilliant question to catch the eyes of Washington’s agenda setters?

If you don’t know what to ask, take a look at these aspects of domestic education policy that the Obama administration has on its plate. Use these as a point of departure, but don’t limit yourself to the following:

Pell Grants

About 8 million students with extensive financial-need rely on Federal Pell Grants to fund their educations. When Congress passed The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, they allotted $40 billion towards funding the grants. Combined with the stimulus package and other budget initiatives as well, the Obama administration pledges to more than double the funding for Pell Grants. The government plans to fund these plans through ending subsidies currently given to financial institutions that make guaranteed federal student loans. Instead, the government plans on making direct loans to students through companies contracted by the Department of Education.

Student Loans

Two-thirds of college graduates rely on student loans, averaging a debt of about $23,000 (though a Northwestern education has a slightly higher price tag). Under The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, repayments made by students are capped at 10% of their discretionary income, a reduction from 15%. Additionally, students who responsibly make these repayments will have their debt forgiven after 20 years. Those working in the public sector will have their debt forgiven after 10 years. The federal government is also planning on simplifying the FAFSA application process.

Community Colleges, HBCs, and MSIs

The government has set out plans to increase funding for community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions. Specifically, The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will give $2 billion over for years to community colleges and career training as the number of jobs requiring an associate’s degree is on the rise. The same act includes $2.55 billion for institutions that seek to educate minority students, such as the ones listed above.

Discrimination

A few weeks ago, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli urged public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Although the Governor of Virginia later issued an order to disregard such a change in policy, the legal standing of Cuccinelli’s argument have greater implications; he argued that state agencies lack legal authority to ban sexual discrimination. While this is debatable, the federal government hasn’t yet established any orders that clarify the matter on a national level.

K-12 Education for College entrance

The ED Recovery Act, a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, funds a K-12 incentive program called Race to the Top, or R2T. Under R2T, the better a school becomes, the more money it will receive from the federal government. State applications for federal funds are affected by how well schools embrace reform. President Obama has also planned to amend No Child Left Behind by ridding the current system of yearly benchmarks, and dismissing the plan to reach universal proficiency in reading and math by 2014, a goal which Arne Duncan called, “utopian.” Instead, the focus has shifted to college and career readiness.

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