Higher Education Bill Targets Costs, Crime

Lowering interest rates on students loans captured most of the attention earlier this month when President Clinton signed a bill that revisited federal higher education programs for the first time since 1992.

But Congress tucked a few other things into the bill’s 668 pages.

Take campus crime, for example. Congress stripped colleges of some of the artful dodges used to keep criminal activity--and the results of campus disciplinary proceedings--from public view.

Or consider teacher training. Colleges and universities will now have to reveal how many of their education school graduates pass teacher licensing and certification exams.

And then there’s the spiraling cost of higher education.

The new law instructs the National Center for Education Statistics to study all of the factors driving up costs: tuition, fees, faculty salaries, administrative salaries, research operations, technology and maintenance.

A few years from now, the U.S. secretary of education will begin to release an annual report that details the tuition and fees at all colleges in “an easily understandable form” so that students and parents can do comparison shopping.

“It’s not done to try to embarrass the schools,” said Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), who sponsored the bill. “But the fact that we are putting the spotlight on it may help keep costs down.”

Making colleges more affordable was a major focus of the legislation officially called the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.

After all, the point of the bill was to update the Higher Education Act of 1965, which governs $38 billion in federal student aid. That accounts for about 68% of all nonparental financial assistance to college students.

So the bill rejiggered the interest rate formula on student loans, based on treasury bill rates and added points. If T-bill rates remain low, an average student could save about $700 in interest over a decade, repaying $13,000 in debt at 7.46% interest.

“When grown-ups look at the numbers, it doesn’t seem to make much difference,” said Sandy Baum, an economist at Skidmore College. “But smaller payments for recent graduates can be quite significant on a starting salary.”

If rates surge, the new formula caps interest rates at 8.25%--roughly the same rate that existed before the law changed.

The new law also authorizes an increase in the maximum per-student Pell Grant to $4,500 next year and then raises the ceiling in annual $300 increments until 2003.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said USC economist Morton Owen Schapiro, who notes that Pell Grants have not kept pace with escalating tuition.

But there is a hitch. Pell Grants can only reach these levels if Congress provides the money in its annual budget. This year, for instance, the budget restricted Pell Grants to $3,000, even though they were authorized to go much higher.

Crime on Campus--Weighing in on a touchy issue, Congress agreed to some requests by victims rights groups to nudge colleges into more complete disclosure of campus crime.

“Most campuses are very safe,” McKeon said. “That doesn’t mean that if something happens on campus, it shouldn’t be reported.”

So colleges will now be required to maintain a public police log of most major crimes--except when such reporting could jeopardize an ongoing investigation or the confidentiality of a victim of sexual assault.

Colleges also must add two new crimes--arson and manslaughter--to the list of offenses reported annually to the federal government. The others are murder, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

The two most prevalent crimes on campus--petty theft and auto burglary--remain off the list.

In addition, colleges have newly expanded responsibilities for reporting crime that occurs on sidewalks, streets and parking lots contiguous to the campus and at off-campus locations related to the school: fraternities, college-run buildings and the like.

This expanded turf will result in some “real confusion” at some urban campuses, said Pete Sysak, president of the California College and University Policy Chiefs Assn. Some big-city campuses will have the burden of coordinating statistics with as many as half a dozen surrounding police agencies to make sure they comply with the law.

Victims rights and journalist organizations tried, but failed, to persuade Congress to force colleges to open up their secret campus courts.

Instead, Congress took one step in that direction. It repealed a federal privacy law that prohibited colleges from disclosing the “final results” of these secret proceedings.

Although college officials lobbied heavily against these changes, Congress was moved by the powerful testimony of parents who complained about being victimized twice: once when their child was raped or murdered, then a second time when their quest for justice was stymied by college administrations and secret disciplinary proceedings.

Sysak, police chief at Cuesta College, said he hopes the new law will encourage college administrations to be more straightforward about crime statistics so that students and parents can make informed decisions.

“Colleges don’t want their academic environment to appear unsafe,” Sysak said. “So sometimes there has been a motive to look at the statistics and say this was not really a sexual assault. . . . Congress wanted to take the leeway from the colleges to play with the statistics.”

Teacher Training--Just as colleges are recognizing the need to help reform primary and secondary education, the new law aims to improve quality of teacher training programs.

It offers some carrots: An extra year of Pell Grants for students in California in their fifth year of college in a teacher training program; a program to forgive $5,000 in student loans for recent graduates who teach at schools that educate mostly the poor.

But there are some sticks too: Every teacher preparation program that receives federal funds will have to report how many of its graduates pass state licensing and certification exams, and states will have to identify low-performing teacher training programs and then bar them from enrolling any student who receives federal aid.

“Congress is sending an important notice to teacher preparation programs,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) who pushed the provisions. “We will hold you accountable for the billions in taxpayer dollars you get each year.”

Jeanne Brennan of the Education Trust predicts that the law will “knock out the schools that are doing a terrible job.”

“The higher ed community is horrified that this has come to pass,” she said. “They fought against it. But everyone realizes that K-12 cannot improve until higher ed improves how it teaches the teachers.”

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Capitol Changes on Campus

The Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998, signed into law earlier this month by President Clinton, will boost federal financial aid and tinker with scores of federal programs. Most changes do not take effect until the next academic year. Here are some highlights of the new legislation

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Student Loans

Locks in a new interest rate formula that lowers rates to 7.46% from 8.23% for graduates starting to repay their federally subsidized loans. Students who want to refinance their loans must apply before Jan. 31.

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Pell Grants

Increases the maximum yearly grant for low-income students from $3,000 this year to $4,500 for the 1999-2000 academic year and them gradually raises it to $5,800 in 2003-04. Revises the eligibility formula to let students who are supporting themselves through school keep more of their earnings and still qualify for federal grants and subsidized loans.

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Special Grants

Two-year and four-year colleges with student bodies that are at least 25% Latino can compete for special grant money. Such grants have long been available to historically black colleges. Now they will be available to Native American schools, too.

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Early Outreach

Colleges and community groups can compete for $200 million in grants for “GEAR UP” early-intervention programs that help inspire poor children to get on track for college.

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Work Study

Authorizes an increase in the College Work-Study Program to $1 billion, up from current spending of $830 million. Requires that some money go to community service, including one program that tutors children in reading and adults in literacy.

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Campus Crime

Requires colleges to maintain a public police log of all reported crimes. Opens the disciplinary records of students who have admitted to committing violent acts or have been found to have committed such acts. Allows colleges to inform parents about alcohol- and drug-related disciplinary violations by students under age 21. Students convicted of possession or selling of illegal drugs will lose their financial aid.

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Quality Teachers

Creates a program of incentives for states to recruit qualified teachers and toughen certification procedures. Requires teacher preparation schools to disclose how many of their graduates pass certification exams. Provides grants to promote strong teachers and keep them up to date on new teaching technologies. Forgives up to $5,000 in student loans for graduates who teach for five years in low-income communities.