Roundup: Week of November 5 - November 9
Blog Post
Nov. 8, 2007
More Questionable Spending Uncovered at PHEAA
Gummy brains, brass clocks, and peppermint candies were among the promotional giveaways the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) spent $2.2 million on over a five-year period, the Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported this week. PHEAA, a state loan guarantee agency backed by public funds, gave away $30 L.L. Bean Jackets, $22 brass clocks, and peppermint candies with the agencys name on the wrapper. The strangest purchase though, was the $3,400 spent on gummy candies shaped like brains as part of a "big brain" initiative to spark employee motivation. "The officials at PHEAA must have gummy brains if they were willing to waste scholarship money on these types of wasteful expenditures," quipped Josh Shapiro, a Pennsylvania state representative. This is not the first time PHEAA has come under fire for its extravagant spending. In March, an investigation of the agencys expense accounts showed hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges for executive retreats, spa treatments, and falconry lessons. Six months later, a different investigation revealed that the agency had been spending nearly $180,000 on non-salary compensation for previous CEO Michael Hershock.
Colleges Go Public with Student Engagement Survey Results
For the first time, a large number of colleges have made the results from a national survey that measures student engagement on their campuses publicly available on a single site. Results from nearly 260 of the 1,000 or more colleges that participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) are now available on USA Todays Web site. The data contains benchmarks for freshmen and seniors on areas ranging from level of academic challenge to student-faculty interaction to the supportiveness of the campus environment. The board of the NSSE said that it had decided to partner with the newspaper because it felt that "the time has come for participating institutions to stand together in promoting responsible ways to make available information about important, relevant features of institutional and student performance."
Obama Calls for New Higher Ed Tax Credits, Expanded Pell Grants
At a presidential campaign event in Iowa on Wednesday, Democratic hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois announced a plan to increase college access by using the tax code. Obama called for creating a new refundable tax credit that would cover the first $4,000 of the cost of tuition and fees about two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average state college. By making the credits refundable and available at the time of enrollment, Obama said, the proposal would eliminate two of the major flaws of the current higher education tax credits. The Democratic candidate also called for ending the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, expanding Pell Grants, and creating a new grant program that would reward community colleges that increase the rates at which their students graduate and transfer to four-year institutions.