Higher education reauthorization: The debate continues

Lovett, C.M. (2005). Higher education reauthorization: The debate continues. Change, 37(3), 6-7.

Editorial introducing a series of articles in the May/June 2005 edition of Change that focus on accreditation. Provides context for the current interest in accreditation with the 2004 legislation to reauthorize the 1965 Higher Education Act. Describes that legislators used to listen to a very specific “public” regarding higher education – upper-income families who assumed they would send their children to college. Explains that a broader public now demands to be heard – middle-income families who are distrustful of higher education giving rising costs and adults in low-income families who need higher education to succeed in the workplace. Given the demands of this new “public,” legislators are calling for greater accountability, and are relying on the one consistent source of information readily available about higher education institutions: accreditation.

Follow-up:

• May/June 2005 edition of Change
  
• 1965 Higher Education Act