Overview:
more
Located within the Department of Education, The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) formulates and administers federal postsecondary education policy and programs. Aimed at creating equity in, and improving the quality of, higher education, OPE initiatives generally fall into three areas of concentration: policy and planning, minority and disadvantaged students, and accreditation. The Office also administers Federal Student Aid programs, grants for institutions serving low-income and minority students, and international education programs including the Fulbright.
History:
more
The original Department of Education dates back to 1867, and certain OPE programs continue the mission of successive operations in the Department’s history. However, most OPE authority and programs derive from the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) and Higher Education Acts (HEA), both passed in 1965. The Title I program of the ESE provided for Federal aid to reach disadvantaged children in poor urban and rural areas, and the HEA authorized assistance for postsecondary education, including financial aid for college students. The Department of Education was established as a Cabinet-level agency in1980.
Most OPE programs and initiatives derive their authority from the Higher Education Act of 1965 (authorized and amended in 1998). See the (PDF) version here, in Title 20, Chapter 28 of U.S. Code or the full text of the 1998 Amendments.
Opening the Doors to Higher Education: Perspectives on the Higher Education Act
(PDF)
What it Does:
more
OPE administers a wide range of programs and initiatives aimed at improving access to quality postsecondary education. Federal Student Aid provides financial assistance for college students; OPE’s TRIO and GEAR UP programs assist disadvantaged students “prepare for, enter and succeed in higher education;” and the Fund for Postsecondary Education is designed to stimulate and reward innovation to improve the quality of higher education. OPE grant programs provide assistance to institutions that serve low-income and minority students, including Hispanic-serving and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. International education programs, such as the Fulbright, are also under direction of the OPE.
Policy
Within the OPE, the division of Policy, Planning, and Innovation (PPI) is responsible for the agency’s budget, and policy and legislative proposals, as well as some data collections. PPI is also responsible for the Secretary's Annual Report on Teacher Quality, strategic planning, program forecast and performance oversight, as well as administration of Hurricane Education Recovery Awards. The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education “provides grants to colleges and universities to promote reform, innovation, and improvement in postsecondary education.”
Minority Issues
OPE’s Higher Education Programs (HEP) address minority issues in postsecondary education. HEP include programs that increase access to postsecondary education for disadvantaged students, strengthen the capacity of colleges and universities that serve a high percentage of disadvantaged students, and provide teacher and student development resources. HEP also administers international education and foreign language studies programs.
Accreditation
The Department of Education does not accredit institutions or programs, but rather regulates standards and procedures for U.S. accreditation. The agency is also legally required to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies. (Agencies are “private educational associations of regional or national scope, [that] develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency’s evaluation and that meet an agency’s criteria are then ‘accredited’ by that agency”). At the state level, The Department recognizes state agencies that approve public postsecondary vocational and nurse education.
The Accreditation and State Liaison (ASL) is responsible for “the accrediting agency recognition process and for the coordination of activities between states and the U.S. Department of Education that impact institutional participation in the federal financial assistance programs.” The Postsecondary Educational Institutions and Programs Accredited by Accrediting Agencies and State Approval Agencies Recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education list is a searchable database for accredited institutions.
Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) Programs - Program Information and Overview - Year-one Data for AC and National SMART Grants.
Programs and Initiatives - include the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, Institutional Development and Undergraduate Education Programs, International Education Programs, Teacher and Student Development Programs and Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program.
TRIO
The Federal TRIO programs are designed to “motivate and support” students from disadvantaged backgrounds.” TRIO includes six outreach and support programs that assist low-income, first-generation college students, and those with disabilities, to progress through the academic system—particularly from middle-school to the post-baccalaureate programs. The program group also includes training initiatives for teachers and staff and a “dissemination partnership” to encourage adoption of similar practices at non-grantee institutions.
Student Financial Assistance Program Data - Includes annual summary data for the federal Pell, Campus-Based and Loans Programs, quarterly updates of student loan volumes, other federal student aid program data, and links to other federal data and statistical resources.
Further Reading: Students with Disabilities and PSE
Postsecondary Education, Vocational Rehabilitation and Students with Disabilities: Gaining Access to Promising Futures (by Hugh G. Berry, U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration)
Programs Proposed for Elimination
in the FY 2009 proposal
Where Does the Money Go:
more
Stakeholders include students, teachers/professors and others in the postsecondary education system; underprivileged, minority and low-income college students; Historically Black and Hispanic-serving Universities; international students and U.S. students who study abroad; pre-college students at risk of not attending college; accrediting agencies, peers and constituents, postsecondary education lobbyists, Congress, etc.
Controversies:
more
Earmarks
Funding watchdogs take issue with the effectiveness and transparency of Congressional earmarks, including for education. In a March 2008 posting on the Ed Money Watch blog, the OPE is identified as receiving the most earmarks in the DOE. Excerpt below:
Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a database of higher education earmarks for fiscal year 2008. A number of the earmarks are related to K-12 initiatives at colleges and universities, and many of the programs sound valuable and work toward positive goals. Members of Congress are certainly skilled at justifying them. But don't let these justifications sway you—earmarks mean no accountability to taxpayers and no concrete proof of program effectiveness.
The Office of Postsecondary Education routinely receives the most earmarks in the Department of Education, including some for K-12 initiatives such as teacher training programs. The Chronicle database also includes higher education earmarks distributed through the Office of Innovation and Improvement's Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE), such as grants to support partnerships between colleges and local school systems.
Earmarks Galore! More Transparency, But Still Flourishing (by Lindsey Luebchow, Ed Money Watch)
Upward Bound
In March 2008, the Department of Education ceased a controversial study on the “Upward Bound” program, which helps prepare first generation and low-income students for college. Begun in 2007, the study was designed to measure whether narrowing the focus to students considered less likely to pursue higher education would make the program more effective. Critics called the study—which required grantees to enroll twice as many students as normal and assign one half to a control group—unethical, even immoral, for recruiting disadvantaged students and then denying them entry for the purpose of determining numbers.
The study was initiated by Larry Oxedine, a former director of the OPE’s TRIO programs, who based the evaluation plan on research that found that Upward Bound only seemed to benefit students with low expectations of attending college. According to press reports, Oxedine concluded Upward Bound had lost its focus, serving a disproportionate number of high-achieving students who could be better served in another, less-expensive TRIO program, Talent Search.
Critics, headed by the Council for Opportunity in Education, a lobbying group for the TRIO programs, fought to kill the study. Congress passes an Omnibus bill for FY 2008 prohibiting the agency from spending on it, and under pressure of the surrounding controversy, Assistant Secretary Jones agreed to halt the program in February 2008.
Education Dept. to End Controversial Study of Upward Bound (by Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Government Hires Media Commentator
Administration Paid Commentator: Education Dept. Used Williams to Promote 'No Child' Law (by Howard Kurtz, Washington Post)
Sallie Mae/ FOIA
Sallie Mae Demands SUNY Colleges Turn Over Students' Personal Data (by Stephen Burd, New America)
Sallie Mae Abandons Effort to Compel Colleges to Give Up Students' Addresses
(by Paul Basken, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Suggested Reforms:
more
At least since the Reagan years, Republican administrations have attempted to abolish the Department of Education, including the OPE’s higher education programs.
Debate:
more
Higher Ed Funding and HEA
Debate over funding for higher education has historically fallen along partisan lines, with Democrats advocating more liberal spending and Republicans looking to dismantle federal assistance infrastructure. The rising cost of college tuition, room and board—about 65% (adjusted for inflation) between 1996 and 2006—has stirred the debate over higher education. National Center for Education Statistics Fast Facts
While the Bush Administration has arguably increased funding in some areas for the Department of Education (including the controversial No Child Left Behind Act), many programs have been cut and Congress continues to parse HEA provisions. Lawmakers from both sides have recently called for increased oversight of spending at the postsecondary level. In February 2008, the House of Representatives passed legislation to renew the Higher Education Act, with bipartisan support. With all parties increasingly concerned with the inhibitive costs of higher education, Democrats joined Republicans in supporting a measure (House Bill H.R. 4137) that would pressure institutions to keep a tighter grip on costs and spending. Citing racial bias and disapproval with a diminished Secretarial accreditation authority, the Bush Administration has expressed initial opposition to provisions in both House and Senate versions of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (H.R. 4137).
Federal aid advocates decry spending cuts, while libertarian groups like The Heritage Foundation, continue to argue that federal spending on higher education fails to help make it affordable, as “colleges and universities just consume this additional revenue.”
For N.C. Voters, Higher Ed is a Hot Issue (by Tim Simmons, News & Observer)
Overhaul of Higher Education Act Is Magnet for Lobbying (by Libby George, CG Today Online)
U.S. bill specifies state higher ed spending (by Pauline Vu, Stateline.org)
House, Focusing on Cost, Approves Higher Education Act (by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed)
Economist Says U.S. Spends Too Much on Higher Education (by JJ Hermes, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Senate debates higher education provisions to improve federal programs and expand access to college (American Chronicle)
House Begins Debate on HEA Reauthorization Bill; 14 Amendments Adopted (NASFAA Press Release)
Right (pro-downsizing)
The Facts on Federal Education Spending (by Dan Lips, Heritage Foundation)
Left (pro-spending)
From Bad to Worse (by Doug Lederman, Insider Higher Ed)
Accreditation
Explaining the Accreditation Debate (by Doug Lederman, Insider Higher Ed)
- Table of Contents
- Overview
- History
- What it Does
- Where Does the Money Go
- Controversies
- Suggested Reforms
- Comments
- Leave a Comment
Founded: 1980
Annual Budget: $2.112 billion
Employees: 205 (2006)
Official Website: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/
Office of Postsecondary Education
Comments