A recent story in the Wall Street Journal demonstrates the role that University of Lynchburg President Dr. Kenneth R. Garren has played as a leading voice in higher education.
Published Monday, “Colleges Flex Lobbying Muscle” by Brody Mullins explains how college presidents worked against a proposed federal college rating system that would have made a student’s federal financial aid depend partly on a score the student’s college received from the government. Dr. Garren was at the forefront of an effort to educate Virginia’s congressional delegation about the negative impact the plan would have on opportunities for students.
This summer the U.S. Department of Education altered its plans for the rating system and chose to publish more comprehensive data about colleges and allow students to decide how to judge a college.
Opposition to the plan grew from concerns that the rating system would have limited the opportunities available to students who need financial aid. “As a college, we have no concerns about being held accountable; accountability motivates us to be better,” Dr. Garren wrote in a recent piece in University of Lynchburg Magazine. “But a one-size-fits-all federal ranking would have, in the long run, hurt students.”
Read more of Dr. Garren’s thoughts about the federal scorecard in “Speak out about the value of education.”
The Wall Street Journal article can be read in this PDF or on the Wall Street Journal website.
