U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced last week which recommendations from a higher education report she plans to implement.
The report, released last month, is the result of a commission on higher education that Spellings formed last September to consider solutions to problems afflicting higher education in the country.
Spellings says she plans to simplify the federal financial-aid process, create a database tracking college students' academic information and provide matching funds to colleges that measure learning with standardized testing.
These moves are intended to address the affordability and accountability of colleges and universities, she said.
The announcement elicited both praise and criticism from the higher-education community.
Tony Pals, spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group of private colleges, said that the association was generally pleased with Spellings' goals, especially with its emphasis on access for low-income students.
Nevertheless, he said that his organization had several strong reservations about Spellings' agenda as she laid it out.
The association strongly opposes both the idea of a database that would track student academic progress and the proposal to consolidate federal student-aid programs, he said.
In addition, Pals said the association was disappointed by Spellings' failure to emphasize an increase in the maximum amount that a student can receive through a federal Pell grant as one of her priorities.
The maximum Pell grant has remained constant for the past five years and an increase would have been "welcome news," considering how much the Department of Education has touted access and affordability as two of its objectives, he added.
