Dive Brief:
- In a speech at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the higher education system in the United States is failing too many students, and he called for a focus on outcomes, not just debt.
- Duncan called for more accountability from colleges that provide services, as well as states and accreditors, which are supposed to keep them in check.
- He pitched a fundamental change in evaluating institutions, pushing policymakers and accrediting bodies to focus on measures of success, not just access.
Dive Insight:
Duncan’s comments stake out a focus for higher education policy that goes beyond the debt-free push coming from Democratic presidential nominees. He rightly pointed out that most college graduates do, in fact, pay off their loans, and they also enjoy excellent returns on their investment. The call for accountability comes just as the department was supposed to be releasing a new college ratings tool that would have provided a number of consumer-oriented ratings of higher education institutions. That plan was jettisoned earlier this summer but the department expects the comparison tool it plans to launch instead will provide an element of accountability as students and families base college decisions on the metrics.