The Higher Education Act Reauthorization - Is your campus ready?

Madison, Wis.—Janury 13, 2008 — The Higher Education Opportunity Act has colleges and universities in a tough spot. It makes several new demands of campuses, but it does not offer much funding or guidance. The U.S. Department of Education and other regulatory bodies will provide guidance over the next few years, but what should campuses do to comply in the meantime?

The first step is to review your institution’s existing policies and protocols, said W. Scott Lewis, J.D., and Saundra K. Schuster, J.D., during the recent online seminar The Higher Education Act Reauthorization - A to Z. The next step is to create or update these policies and procedures based on a “good-faith” reading of the Act.

Many of the Act’s new requirements aim to improve transparency and make the workings of a college or university clearer to the public, Lewis said. For instance, the Act requires institutions to:

  • Create and disseminate a fire safety report for residence halls, much like institutions now create and disseminate campus safety reports
  • Create and disseminate a protocol on missing students
  • Create a protocol demonstrating that the institution is not using any Higher Education Act funds for lobbying
  • Comply with “sunshine” provisions regarding how the institution handles student loans, including publishing a code of conduct for employees who work with student loans

Although the bad news is that creating this transparency will be a burden for institutions—especially since most of these mandates are unfunded—the good news is that if it’s done successfully, it might actually keep Congress from demanding more oversight of higher education, Lewis said. “This takes a bite out of our autonomy,” he said. “The hope is that Congress will step back when there’s greater transparency and accountability to the public.”

During the seminar, Lewis and Schuster outlined a list of 13 priorities campuses should take action on immediately. If campuses don’t begin taking at least some simple steps—such as reviewing current policies and protocols—by November 1, they might be asked why they haven’t made any progress, Schuster said.

Among the 13 priorities Lewis and Schuster recommended are:

  • Making sure that the list of hate crimes the Act has expanded becomes part of the campus annual security report
  • Developing policies and procedures to address illegal file sharing, as required by the Act
  • Developing transfer of credit policies consistent with new regulations
  • Reviewing campus discipline procedures for compliance with new record privacy and campus safety regulations.

If you missed the seminar and would like to purchase it for your institution, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenter's handouts.

Magna Publications is a leading publisher of newsletters and other information products in the higher education segment. Magna also manages onsite and online conferences on topics of interest to higher education.

For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.