Education Plan May Hold Universities Accountable

A provision of the post-secondary educational plan holds colleges and universities accountable for making figures such as retention rates and percentages of students who graduate known to the public.

Opponents fear that if schools achieve less-than-stellar rates in these areas, the government might respond by reducing federal funding, much of which goes to student aid.

Jeff Andrade, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, said the goal of the provision is not to penalize colleges and universities.

Instead, the plan is meant to "strengthen accountability" and "improve the information available," Andrade said.

With some $70 billion of taxpayers' money funding federal student aid, the Bush administration thinks students and parents have the right to as much information as possible when weighing the pros and cons of different colleges and universities.

"We're trying to build on what's already there," Andrade said. "Most good schools welcome accountability."

Andrade also said most negative feedback to the plan has come from lobbyists who have little involvement with actual universities.

Any standards set by the government would be minimum and not highly intrusive.

But post-secondary institutions that defy this policy and do not make this information available could face losing federal funding.

Gretchen Bataille, UNC-system vice president for academic affairs, said the system is concerned with ensuring that the federal government's methods of funding are accurate measures of quality.

She added that North Carolina is one of the top states in the nation in terms of the amount of care taken to make sure federal standards are met.

"We do more assessment and accounting than most states," Bataille said.

UNC-Chapel Hill officials say the University is obeying the federal standards.

"We're already in compliance," said Risa Palm, dean of the UNC-CH College of Arts and Sciences. "We're doing extremely well."

UNC-CH retains about 90 percent of its freshman class each year and graduates 70 percent of students within four years, more than twice the average rate as listed by the Association of American Universities.

But with the recent budget turmoil digging into the pockets of the UNC system, officials expressed concern at maintaining these figures.

Bataille noted that fewer classes were offered for the fall semester, a potential stumbling block to a student looking to graduate.

But she emphasized that graduation rates do not reveal much when two schools are compared. She said UNC-CH attracts a largely undergraduate population with students mostly ranging from 18 to 22 years old, while other universities catering to older, working and commuting students are less likely to have high graduation rates.

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.