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Category: Higher Education

Administration Focuses on Strategies to Increase College Graduation Rates

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In late March, America’s Promise Alliance–founded by former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, held a three day “Building a Grad Nation” summit in Washington, DC. The purpose was to inspire a movement to reach a goal of a 90 percent national college graduation rate by 2020 and place the US in the lead for the highest proportion of college graduates. To reach the President’s 2020 goal, the US must increase the number of college graduates by 50% and turn out at least eight million additional graduates by the end of the decade.

Vice President Biden spoke at the event, saying, “Today, we’ve got an education system that works like a funnel–when we need it to work like a pipeline…the skills of our college graduates will pave the way to a bright economic future for our nation.”  Education Secretary Duncan added, “America once led the world in the number of college graduates it produces, and now we’ve fallen to ninth…the best jobs and fastest-growing firms, whether in biosciences, technology, manufacturing, trade, or entertainment, will gravitate to countries, states, and communities with a highly qualified workforce. In order for the United States to lead the world, every governor will have to lead the way home.”

The Administration also released a college completion toolkit, which identifies seven no-cost or low-cost strategies, 15 related action steps, and a series of existing federal resource streams from which to draw.

The toolkit can be found here.

Department of Education FY12 Budget Summary

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The Department of Education has released the following summary of the President’s FY12 budget request for the agency:

U.S. Department of Education

Information Release

2/14/11

Deep cuts and efficiencies in several key education programs will help fund new education investments to keep American students competitive in the global economy under the proposed 2012 Obama administration education budget. The President released the budget at a Baltimore public school on Monday, February 14.

“We are cutting where we can to invest where we must,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who joined President Obama for the announcement. “These are challenging times, but we can’t delay investments that will secure our future. We must educate our way to a better economy by investing responsibly, advancing reform and demanding results.”

Areas for new investment run the spectrum from early learning to college completion, and include funding for formula and competitive K-12 programs, including a new district-level Race to the Top program with a rural set-aside and another round of Investing in Innovation grants. The budget also includes new and expanded programs that support teacher and principal effectiveness. Continue reading “Department of Education FY12 Budget Summary”

President’s FY12 Budget Request

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Today, President Obama released a $3.73 trillion budget request for FY12. The White House estimates that the request and projections for spending in the out-years would reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Despite reductions in overall spending, the request contains significant increases for research and development as well as some education programs.

National Institutes of Health– $31.8 billion, an increase of 3.3% over the FY10 level of $30.8 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget HHS FY12 Budget Summary

National Science Foundation– $7.77 billion, an increase of 13% over the FY10 level of $6.87 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act

NSF FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Energy, Office of Science– $5.4 billion, an increase of 10.2% over the FY10 level of $4.9 billion –keeping the agency on track for a 10-year (FY08-FY17) doubling that is authorized in last year’s America COMPETES Act. $550 million is also included for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to continue support for the promising early-stage research projects that could deliver game-changing clean energy technologies.

DoE FY12 Budget Materials

Department of Defense, Science and Technology– $12.2 billion for science and technology programs, which includes a 2% real growth in basic research

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency– $5.5 billion, an increase of 14.3% over the FY10 level of $4.85 billion

White House/Office of Management and Budget Department of Commerce FY12 Budget Summary

Department of Education–

  • Continues support for a $5,550 maximum Pell Grant award, $819 above the level in 2008, largely paid for by eliminating the year-round Pell Grant and the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional student loans
  • Invests $26.8 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent, in a reformed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) focused on raising standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success, while allowing States and districts more flexibility to invest resources where they will have the greatest impact. The new ESEA directs funds to reform-oriented competitive initiatives, consolidates dozens of programs, and cuts programs that do not demand results.
  • Provides $1.4 billion for new competitions, modeled on the Race to the Top initiative, to strengthen and reform early childhood education, improve district performance in elementary and secondary education, and improve outcomes in higher education

Department of Education FY12 Budget Materials

National Endowment for the Humanities– $146 million, a decrease of 13% from the FY10 level of $168 million

NEH FY12 Budget Summary

Additional information on President Obama’s FY12 budget request will be posted as it becomes available. The release of the President’s Budget Request (PBR) is the first step in appropriations process for the coming year. After Congress and the President settle on a path forward for FY11 — which began on October 1, 2010 — the FY12 process will begin to move forward.

Startup America Partnership

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As part of the Obama Administration’s innovation agenda, the White House today announced the launch of the Startup America Partnership, a “public/private effort to promote entrepreneurship with new initiatives to encourage private sector investment in job-creating startups and small firms.”  The effort “brings together an alliance of the country’s most innovative entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders, working in concert with a wide range of federal agencies, to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of America’s entrepreneurs.” 

The goals of the initiative are expanded commercialization of the results of federally funded research, and a greater number of “high-impact entrepreneurship education programs” at high schools, community colleges, and universities.

White House Website for Startup America

Dept. of Ed. Set to Release 2011-12 Pell Schedule

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The U.S. Department of Education has determined that it can establish the Pell Grant maximum for the 2011-12 academic year at $5,550 based on the Dec. 22, 2010, Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires on March 4. The agency plans to issue the 2011-12 Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules using the $5,550 maximum Pell (same level as current year) by February 1. If Congress extends the current CR without altering spending levels, the maximum Pell award would be $5,550 and the Pell Schedules issued before Feb. 1 would stand. If Congress alters Pell spending after the current CR expires, the maximum Pell award could change and Pell Schedules could need to be revised.