Lawmakers also would help more students qualify for the new Academic Competitiveness Grant program that rewards students for rigorous high school study. Under the new language, part-time students and students enrolled in certificate programs could receive this aid. The program previously was open only to full-time students in degree programs.
Although President Bush signed the bill in August, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has expressed mixed views of the measure. The plan “seeks to challenge many complex and challenging issues,” she noted in a statement. However, she criticized Congress for creating more than 60 “new, costly and duplicative programs.”
Leading higher education associations also had a balanced view of the package. Representatives of the American Council on Education, American Association of Community Colleges and other associations applauded the new spending and programming for low-income students. Yet it also contains an “extraordinary number” of new reporting and regulatory requirements, says Molly Corbett Broad, ACE president.
“Although some of these have been made less onerous as the legislative process has proceeded, the total volume of new federal requirements remain considerable,” she says.
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