AGB Ten Public Policy Issues for Higher Education in 1999 and 2000

The Association of Governing Boards public policy paper will be available for a modest price from our publications office beginning July 6 by calling 1-800-356-6317 or by visiting the AGB website (www.agb.org). An abbreviated version is below. Thanks for your interest. Rich Novak

AGB Ten Public Policy Issues for Higher Education in 1999 and 2000

1. Teacher Preparation and the K-12 Relationship.
There is a growing national consensus that higher education can do more to advance K-12 instruction by strengthening teacher-preparation programs, supplying more teachers to meet acute teacher shortages, and by giving K-12 standards and examinations consideration in the college-admission process.

2. Affordability vs. Access
As federal and state policies focus on providing more affordable education to students from middle-income and high-income families, the goal of access for students of lesser means seems to be losing ground.

3. Cost and Price of Higher Education
Policymakers across the political spectrum are seeking ways to address public concern about college costs.

4. Implementation of Recent Federal Legislation
With Congress having enacted several pieces of higher education legislation in 1998, the focus will now shift to how they are implemented.

5. Federal Support for University Research
Congress will consider the level of funding for university-based research as well as the policies that govern that funding.

6. Diversity in Admissions
Colleges and universities face political and legal challenges to their ability to consider race or ethnicity as factors in the admissions process.

7. Information Technology and New Competition
Increasingly sophisticated uses of information technology will force public and private institutions to respond to competition from for-profit higher education providers and from their peers.

8. Economic and Financial Trends
Although a robust economy has produced prosperity for higher education in the late 1990s, few states and institutions seem prepared for the possibility of a recession and its inevitable consequences.

9. Creating a Sustainable Society and Future
Higher education will be expected to play a stronger role in state and federal efforts to sustain the nation s natural resource base and protect the environment.

10. Rethinking Public Higher Education Systems
States will continue to be interested in the governance and finance of their public higher education systems and seek ways to encourage efficiency, productivity, and accountability while keeping costs reasonable.