<p>More indications that the USDOE and their various handlers really have no intention to provide students alternatives, beyond loans, for making rational decisions about their education.<br>
The selection below is from the August fourth “Chronicle of Higher Education”. Congress has set the funds for these new grants, and President Bush will not veto the bill. But it’s very indicative that once again, Spellings clearly intends to obstruct policies and programs that elected officials have tried to establish.
Perhaps all the poor decision making by students is a symptomatic of a system which has been so co-opted by vested interests that the whole idea of it actually working to benefit students is a sham. And not all students are oblivious beer guzzling automatons, some do read the education news.
But when they do read items like this, or the earlier article mentioning the effective burying of grant programs, what conclusion are they to derive?
For many it would be that our educational system has become so controlled by agendas anti ethical to student interests that there’s no point in pretending that it isn’t corrupt. And perhaps that concept is behind many students making bad financial decisions regarding their education. It’s the ‘what’s the point’ response typical for those caught in inefficient or corrupt systems. </p>
<p>August 4, 2008
Congress Creates Numerous New Grant Programs, to Secretary’s Dismay</p>
<p>Margaret Spellings, the U.S. secretary of education, isnt happy about the dozens of new grant programs tucked into a major higher-education bill that cleared Congress last week, and shes making her displeasure known.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to lawmakers last week, Ms. Spellings said that while the White House supports many pieces of the bill, which would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the Bush administration remains concerned that the legislation would create more than 60 new, costly, and duplicative programs.</p>
<p>Many of the new programs were requested by interest groups or coalitions of groups. The programs include:</p>
<pre><code>* A program, sought by the conservative National Association of Scholars, that would provide grants to institutions to establish or strengthen programs that promote traditional American history, the history and nature of, and threats to, free institutions, and the history and achievements of Western civilization.
- A grant program, sought by the American Association of University Women, to support fellowships for women and minorities seeking doctoral degrees (see Page 6 of the associations agenda).
- A grant program, sought by the National Court Reporters Association, to help colleges train writers to provide captioned, real-time information to the deaf and hard of hearing.
- A grant program, sought by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, to help institutions develop, use, and evaluate sustainability curricula, practices, and academic programs.
</code></pre>
<p>President Bush has not threatened to veto the bill over its new programs and is expected to sign it into law</p>
<p>"In a letter sent to lawmakers last week, Ms. Spellings said that while the White House supports many pieces of the bill, which would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the Bush administration remains concerned that the legislation would create more than 60 new, costly, and duplicative programs.</p>
<p>And as evidence of the contention that this system is indeed corrupt. It would be somewhat easier to believe Ms, Spellings was genuinely concerned about high costs if it were not for the massive over billings which she allowed to happen under her watch. And her ignoring the recommendations to investigate and correct these over billings by her own departmental IG’s. Unless of course high costs are only an issue for Secretary Spellings when the money might actually benefit students rather than her favorite loan companies bottom lines.</p>