September 1, 2006

Uncertainty Greets Report on Colleges by U.S. Panel

Commission makes proposals on aid and accountability, but will real changes result?

By KELLY FIELD

When the Commission on the Future of Higher Education met for the first time last fall, the U.S. secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, made it clear that she envisioned a historic role for her panel. She placed the panel's work in the context of the Morrill Act, which created land-grant colleges, and the GI Bill of Rights, which provided scholarships to service members returning from World War II.

Ten months later, at the commission's final meeting, one of its members, a former