By snoadmin
Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor last Thursday at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.
In his testimony, he urged the Committee to address problems such as the lack of transparency and accountability at many college institutions, as well as rising tuition costs nationwide. His presentation sparked a three-hour dialogue with Committee members on possible solutions.
“Both the Democratic and Republican Congress members were genuinely concerned about college cost increases,” Alexander wrote to the Daily Forty-Niner via e-mail Sunday. “I was fortunate to be asked to help draft some additional provisions that could help if enacted.”
Alexander called the California State University’s own Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) the “most transparent and accountable measurement system in the nation” for higher learning institutions.
In November 2007, both the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges will release the VSA template for public discussion concerning its use in national public institutions.
“This reporting system will make additional information available to parents and students regarding student specific actual college costs, financial aid results, community service participation as well as numerous standardized test results,” Alexander said. “We fully endorse the public university VSA, and our university will be among one of the first pilot institutions to provide the necessary information for reporting purposes.”
Alexander’s recommendations for battling increases in tuition cost included a partner program to the Pell Grant legislation that would provide extra government funding to institutions serving high numbers of Pell Grant recipients. He also endorsed expanding the role of federal loans in regards to tuition funding, rather than private firms, and setting enrollment goals for federal aid students.
“I realize that some of these recommendations require a significant overhaul in our national higher education agenda,” Alexander said in his conclusion. “However, I do think that we will require these kinds of national conversations to reform our current higher education system if we are going to promote equal and affordable education opportunities.”
