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Letter to the Boston Globe

August 16, 2005

Letters to the Editor
Boston Globe

To the Editor:

Your article got it wrong on why colleges are worked up about Congress’s proposal on college cost (“U.S. bid to keep tabs on tuition irks colleges,” Aug. 16).

The proposal has little to do with ranking colleges in a public image building contest. It has everything to do with de facto price controls.

Congress would insert itself into the middle of each college’s pricing decisions, stripping boards of trustees at private and public institutions of their independence and responsibilities to students. At thousands of colleges, Congress and the U.S. Department at Education would walk into a trustees meeting and take permanent seats at the table.

The proposal would require that colleges whose prices exceed a federally imposed formula to provide a detailed report to the U.S. Secretary of Education, create a “Quality-Efficiency Task Force,” develop a management plan, develop an action plan, and face the threat of being placed on “affordability alert status” and go under audit review by the U.S. Inspector General.

Colleges will face a choice between two equally onerous options. The first is keeping tuition increases at federally prescribed levels and complying with federal price controls, regardless of the impact on institutional aid budgets for low- and middle-income families and the quality of the educational experience. The second is to succumb to federal oversight.

Our institutions are already required to report comprehensive data on price, student aid, and countless other indicators to the U.S. Department of Education. Before imposing further unfunded mandates on college, Congress needs to work with ED to ensure that this consumer information is effectively packaged and widely publicized. We support this goal.

The needs of students and the dynamics of the higher education marketplace, not federal intrusion into campus management decisions, are what should drive the decisions of college trustees.

Sincerely,

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities