Dear Neighbors,

I receive the Ed Review, a bi-weekly update on the U.S. Department of Education. This week, I read interesting news about steps that are being taken to increase American students access to higher education. Please see the following message below.

Higher Education Action Plan

Back from her tour of East Asia (http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/
ed/internationaled/asia-tour/), promoting the U.S. as a premier destination for study abroad, Secretary Spellings renewed her efforts to strengthen the U.S. higher education system. On November 28, she delivered remarks to around 3,300 participants attending the 2006 Federal Student Aid (FSA) conference in Las Vegas. "Being here in Las Vegas, we know one thing: we cannot afford to gamble on our children's future," the Secretary said. "Sixty percent of Americans have no postsecondary credentials at all. Where we once were leaders, now other nations educate more of their young adults to more advanced levels than we do. And, to reclaim the top spot, we need to help an additional nine million Americans earn degrees." In response, the Secretary announced a new public service campaign to spread the message that the U.S. aspires to help every qualified student who wants a degree to attain one. She also outlined her proposals to address the issues of accessibility, affordability, and accountability raised by the bipartisan Commission on the Future of Higher Education. More than 10 million Americans -- over half of all higher education students -- receive federal student aid annually. FSA oversees more than $80 billion in aid (http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/
2006/11/11282006.html). On November 29, the Secretary convened representatives of accrediting agencies to discuss strategies that place a greater emphasis on student learning outcomes. "For more than 100 years, accreditation has been the main tool we've used to assure higher education quality to the people," she said. "Now is the time to take a hard look at the system and see how we can improve it to better meet the new demands of U.S. families in the 21st century" (http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/
2006/11/11292006.html). Meanwhile, the Department has established a negotiating committee to tackle Title IV loan issues. That committee will begin meeting this month (http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/
hearulemaking/2007/nr.html). A separate committee, targeting the Academic Competitiveness and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) grant programs, will begin meeting in January." December 1st, 2006. Ed Review.

Enjoy this holiday season.

Sincerely

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