Committee scrutinizes colleges

Months after suggesting that standardized testing should be brought to colleges and universities, a higher education commission named by the Bush administration is examining proposals to change sharply how the nation's colleges are accredited and how federal student aid is administered.

One proposal calls for scrapping the current system of accreditation, which has been done largely by private regional bodies, in favor of a National Accreditation Foundation that would be created by Congress and the president. Another proposal calls for streamlining the federal student aid system, replacing some 17 grant, loan, and tax-credit programs with just one, or perhaps three, federal aid programs.

The commission, which includes corporate and academic officials, was set up last fall by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to examine college costs and accountability.

Sweeping proposals like the accreditation idea have seemed to turn the commission's deliberations into a tug-of-war between corporate executives and educators over how to solve problems in the nation's higher education system.

"The commission is sending out firebolts, one after another," said Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which represents 1,100 postsecondary institutions.

Charles Miller, a former chairman of the University of Texas Board of Regents and a onetime money manager who is leading the commission, said he hoped to build a consensus among the panel's 19 members as they work to issue a final report in August. But he expressed impatience with some academics who, he said, seemed resistant to change and oblivious that they could be overwhelmed by increasing costs and other challenges.

"Those who are squawking the loudest are those who have a private place to play and a lot of money, much of which comes from the federal government," Miller said. "What we hear from the academy is, 'We're the best in the world, give us more money and let us alone.' "

Miller backed away from the accreditation proposal in an interview, calling it "sort of a boundary idea" laid out in one of several issue papers he commissioned to encourage dialogue.

The commission's meetings have not been widely publicized. But as word has spread about its deliberations, many college presidents have begun following its moves. Daniel L. Anderson, president of Appalachian Bible College, in Bradley, W.Va., said he found the proposal to replace the nation's private accreditation system with one established by Congress especially troubling.