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News

Miller discusses higher ed report

Report, compiled for the education secretary, 
deals with problems facing U.S. colleges

by SARAH TRESSLER
The Daily Cougar

The chairman of a committee serving the U.S. secretary of education discussed a report on the future of higher education Tuesday at Farish Hall.

Charles Miller, chairman of the U.S. Commission on the Future of Higher Education for Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, answered questions from the audience about the report, titled "A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education."

"The federal government has a gigantic role higher education," Miller said. "It's a public interest area and the federal government does have a role. What that role should be and what it should be in the future is open for consideration."

The report outlines the problems faced by would-be college students. It addresses inadequate preparation by secondary education programs, insufficient information about college opportunities and financial barriers.

"We worked on short-term effort to bring to the surface the problems of the issues we were dealing with," Miller said.

Miller said the report was not meant to sugarcoat the problems facing higher education.

"You don't run from the problems, and you can't be afraid to say things that might even be critical," Miller said.

President Bush, then governor of Texas, appointed Miller to the University of Texas Board of Regents in 1999. He was later named chairman of the board in 2001.

The report is available on the Department of Education's Web site at www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html.
 

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