Education Secretary ‘Sets Record Straight’ on Student-Aid Oversight

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings appeared May 10 before a U.S. House committee to, as she put it, “set the record straight” on her department’s oversight of federal student-aid programs. Spellings, however, ran into a buzz saw of criticism from the chairman of the panel.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, told an oversight hearing, at which Spellings was the only witness, that “at a minimum, the Education Department’s oversight failures have been monumental.” Miller cited allegations of illegal inducements by education lenders to schools, inappropriate use of the National Student Loan Data System and potential conflicts involving department staff.

In response, Spellings told the panel that “we’ve worked hard to clean up this system. Today, the majority of schools and lenders are doing the right thing. But when the public’s trust is violated, my department has and will act.”

Spellings argued that student-aid-reform efforts need to go beyond lending practices. “Without addressing the interrelated nature of cost, financing, quality and accessibility in higher education, we’re treating only the symptoms, instead of finding a cure.”

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the committee, noted positive developments in federal student-aid programs under the Bush administration, including the first independent clean audit of the Education Department in several years and the removal of federal student-aid programs from the Government Accountability Office’s list of programs at high risk for fraud, waste and abuse.

“We must be cautious not to let Congress engage in an endless, partisan fishing expedition that, after a while, runs the risk of becoming a witch hunt instead of a serious pursuit of changes to public policy,” McKeon cautioned.