One of the suggestions was to finance databases and information systems about students' whereabouts after completing a degree, and to make that information public with the intent of creating summaries and reports.
Another was the idea of rewarding colleges and other region-wide university systems that collaborate on and develop shared curricula and academic performance standards.
One of the frequent criticisms of American higher education is that it is too decentralized-something this would seek to remedy. Coming up with more centralized standards was a common theme among the action plan items.
The "action plan" also included a desire to study the student market and appeal to underserved demographics, to raise more financial aid money from the private sector, to ensure that more financial aid money is available to part-time students and to encourage lower per-student costs within institutions.
Spellings' plan from the fall also included NCLB reauthorization, increases in Pell Grants and a faster turnaround time for students to determine their financial aid eligibility.
She also wanted to make it easier for students to research higher education possibilities. "We need a system where an individual student can easily search across regions," she said. "What engineering program is the most affordable and has the best success graduating African-American students in four years, for example."
The summit also came on the heels of a study by Making Opportunity Affordable titled, "Hitting Home," which indicated that the United States' higher education performance is lagging on the world stage and needs drastic changes to improve.
Another was the idea of rewarding colleges and other region-wide university systems that collaborate on and develop shared curricula and academic performance standards.
One of the frequent criticisms of American higher education is that it is too decentralized-something this would seek to remedy. Coming up with more centralized standards was a common theme among the action plan items.
The "action plan" also included a desire to study the student market and appeal to underserved demographics, to raise more financial aid money from the private sector, to ensure that more financial aid money is available to part-time students and to encourage lower per-student costs within institutions.
Spellings' plan from the fall also included NCLB reauthorization, increases in Pell Grants and a faster turnaround time for students to determine their financial aid eligibility.
She also wanted to make it easier for students to research higher education possibilities. "We need a system where an individual student can easily search across regions," she said. "What engineering program is the most affordable and has the best success graduating African-American students in four years, for example."
The summit also came on the heels of a study by Making Opportunity Affordable titled, "Hitting Home," which indicated that the United States' higher education performance is lagging on the world stage and needs drastic changes to improve.
