U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings described proposals developed by the Commission on the Future of U.S. Higher Education Tuesday, garnering protest and dissatisfaction from both UW-Madison officials and parents.
Spellings' decision to ignore the Commission's recommendation of increasing Pell Grants to cover at least 70 percent of in-state tuition costs and her support of a nationwide database tracking student transfers and drop-outs provoked panel member and former UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward to reject the report.
UW-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell stated Spellings' disregard of increasing Pell Grants as his main opposition to her recommendations.
The database would track college students' progress through their two- or four-year degree programs; several educators opposed the concept, saying it could threaten students' privacy.
President of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities David Warren claimed the database represented an ""ever-increasing reach into the academy"" by the federal government.
While Spellings said, ""we neither envision, nor want, a national system of higher education,"" educators said they remained wary.
—The Capital Times contributed to this report.
