<p>I think the decision to study engineering/science is probably made before the student gets to college, and that any changes are more needed in the secondary schools. The general feeling that I have is America has one of the best higher education systems in the world, but that the public secondary schools are collapsing. I don't know how much emphasis you can put on "grade reform" in colleges with all of the obvious problems in secondary education.</p>
<p>There is a system like scarletleavy describes, but it is for teachers not engineers. I read in the New York Post a few weeks ago that if you take a teaching job in certain school districts, a certain portion of your student debt is forgiven. I'm not sure of all of the details, but I would love it if they would do something like that in my field.</p>