Higher Ed Roundup: Week of July 21 – July 25

McCain Doesn’t Have Higher Ed Plan Yet, Key Adviser Says

New York Plans for State Student Loan Program

OMB Ignores Dept. of Ed Request for Speedy Action on Study Request

McCain Doesn’t Have Higher Ed Plan Yet, Key Adviser Says

With slightly more than three months to go before the Presidential election, the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has not yet developed a higher education policy agenda, a key adviser to the candidate revealed at an education policy event at the New America Foundation on Thursday. Asked to lay out McCain’s plans for higher education, Lisa Graham Keegan, the former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and education advisor to the candidate, demurred, saying “I can’t do that because the senator hasn’t done that yet…I’m going to let him do that when he wants to.” She did say that McCain is a big supporter of community colleges, and that he believes that reforming higher education begins with a transformation of the K-12 education system. When — and if –McCain does put forward a higher education policy agenda, Higher Ed Watch will have all the details and analysis.

New York Plans for State Student Loan Program

New York governor David Paterson (D) announced this week that he will embrace a plan to establish a publicly-financed state student loan program, similar to ones in most other states across the country. The plan was one of the most prominent recommendations of the New York Commission on Higher Education in a report it released on Monday assessing the state’s public colleges and universities. Exact details of the plan are not yet available, though a similar plan passed the New York State Senate last month and state legislators say they will introduce the legislation as part of the state budget next year. The governor and commissioners said that the introduction of such a loan program, financed by tax-exempt bonds, will drive down the cost of borrowing to students in New York, many of whom rely on high-cost private loans to help pay for college. Some advocates for students, however, warned that the creation of such a program could actually drive students further in debt and take away public support for expanding TAP, the state’s generous grant program that goes to New Yorkers with financial need.

OMB Ignores Dept. of Ed Request for Speedy Action on Study Request

When the U.S. Department of Education requested expedited approval from the Office of Management and Budget last week to survey Pell Grant recipients about problems they have had tranferring credits, they asked for an answer the next day, July 17. While that day has come and gone, an OMB spokeswoman told The Chronicle of Higher Education that the Department’s request is still under review.