Urgent Calls for Higher-Education Reforms Face 2008 Presidential Contenders

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By SARA HEBEL

Since voters last went to the polls to elect a president nearly three years ago, Americans and their political leaders have heard new and urgent calls for action to improve the quality of higher education and make it easier for an increasingly diverse population to earn a college degree.

Reports by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and others have concluded that the United States is slipping behind other developed countries in the proportion of people who earn degrees. The best-selling 2005 book The World Is Flat warned that the country needed to improve how higher education and other sectors of society foster innovation if the United States is to remain competitive in an increasingly global economy.

A commission on the future of higher education, convened by the U.S. secretary of education, issued a wide-ranging report that called for reforms, including more emphasis on measuring how well colleges perform, especially as their costs rise. And a major investigation into the student-loan industry has led politicians and the public to call for changes in how that system operates.

Proposals to deal with many of the key higher-education issues have made their way into the platforms of the candidates for president. Among the plans of the nine Republicans and eight Democrats who are seeking their parties' nominations are those that would help more families pay for college, broaden access to higher education, and improve how colleges use research and training programs to contribute to economic growth.

Many Democrats, for instance, have called for expanding federal student aid and increasing funds for college preparation for students from low-income families. Candidates from both parties have talked about improving the nation's competitiveness by increasing federal funds for research and expanding graduate fellowships for science.

Charles M. Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering, says the next president must strengthen the nation's commitment to education at all levels if the United States is to flourish down the road. "If we exert knowledge-based leadership and innovation in the next four years, we may be able to both compete and prosper eight years hence," he says. "If we don't, things may be very dismal."