Posted on 07/03/2011 8:43:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Out of concern for the rise of for-profit colleges and vocational educational programs, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has issued a ruling directing states to implement a licensing process for private colleges.
The government's actions came after public concerns that some of these for-profit colleges were selling students a shoddy product, as their credentials showed little worth in the job market. An unintended consequence of the DOE ruling, however, is that it also could lead to greater regulation of Christian colleges and universities by state governments.
Christian colleges are concerned that the licensing process would provide an avenue through which states could regulate the content of their education. Christian colleges integrate faith and learning into their curriculum, according to Shapri LoMaglio, government relations and executive programs officer for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). CCCU is concerned, therefore, that state governments could use the licensing procedure to interfere with their faith-based curriculum.
For-profit colleges, including Christian ones, receive much of their income from federal education grants and student loans backed by the federal government.
In a September 20, 2010 editorial for The Denver Post, Colorado Christian University President Bill Armstrong and Hank Brown, former president of the University of Northern Colorado, wrote, “As a practical matter, the department's power grab carries with it an implicit invitation for various pressure groups to seek legal mandates requiring colleges and universities to implement their pet theories about curriculum, degree requirements, faculty qualifications, teaching methods, textbooks, evolution, phonics, ROTC, climate change, family policy, abortion, race, sexual orientation, economic theory, etc.”
The DOE's ruling provides a religious exemption, but for a Christian college to receive the exemption, it must only provide religious classes. Since Christian colleges and universities provide a full range of courses in social sciences, languages, humanities, and physical sciences, for instance, none would qualify for the exemption, according to LoMaglio. If states would want to provide a broader religious exemption, they would not be allowed under the DOE ruling.
The DOE's ruling is a “complete intrusion into the institutional autonomy” of Christian colleges and universities, added LoMaglio. CCCU has contacted the DOE several times, and many Christian college presidents have personally contacted their representatives in Congress and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to express their concerns about the issue.
In response to the DOE ruling, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Va.) introduced a bill, H.R. 2117, that would prevent the DOE from implementing its state mandated licensing requirements. LoMaglio noted that the bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support and has a good chance of passage on the House floor. Senate passage will be more difficult, admits LoMaglio, but she remains optimistic.
This must be straight from Ayn Rand.
Geeze!....Should we focus a laser beam on the “shoddy products”, worthless degrees, and lack of jobs potential of the degrees offered by non-profit colleges ( public, private, and Ivy League)?
Ok?....Should we lift the bandage covering the gangrene called our government K-12 education and the WORTHLESS paper they call a high school diploma? Hold your nose, the smell will half kill you!
The dept of education is soooo past its usefulness.. it is rotting..
If it ever was useful... and didnt start out being rotten..
It would be better for the government to stop funding these
colleges, until they could show that they were worthy.
You don’t need a license to be worthy necessarily.
Also, what about licensing the state schools with their
useless degrees, like gender studies, cinema, creative
writing....those all could be folded into sociology or
fine arts....get rid of most of the intercollegiate sports
too. Replace that with competitive cardiovascular conditioning
instead...same benefit for the athlete.
How long before “worthless” churches are targeted?
What law allows this, what clause of the US Constitution? NONE!
They should be run like the businesses that they are. Completely divorce them from anything to do with academics. Pay the players real salaries, eliminate athletic scholarships, and drop any requirements that the athletes be enrolled in the school.
Ditto for high school and junior high sports. Privatize all of these activities. Turn all sports, music, art, cheerleading, theater, etc., over to the departments of recreation, or ( better, yet) **privatize** these activities.
I’m a conservative Christian, but I agree with the DoE on this one. Too many private colleges are con artists pretending to be a college. They make wild promises to young students, sucker them in and then give them nothing worthwhile - just a mountain of debt.
A religious college accepting federal money and teaching secular subjects should face the same scrutiny that a non-religious college getting federal money gets.
Of course, a better solution would be to end federal student grants. Tuition would plummet to a manageable level within a few years, and no regulation would be needed...
Hu Jintao, is that you ? :)
Last time I checked, the papers issued by public universities were worth less than those of private universities in the job market.
Yea, some people go to purely religious schools but people who freely choose them and the vocations they teach aren’t exactly in it for the money.
No one is under a deception that they go to Bob Jones to become a millionaire businessman.
Anyway, wasn’t it President Nothing who just a year ago or so was preaching at us that going into public service was far more important than succeeding in private business?
A religious college "accepts" fed money in the form of student grants and loans. However, when religious colleges face scrutiny, the scrutiny of the bureaucracy focuses on religious courses with the uppermost thought that they(the bureaucrats) MUST maintain separation of church and state.
I believe that even if all the religious based colleges refused fed. loans for students, they would still be singled out for egregious discrimination.
vaudine
Leave it to DOE to go after the private instituations while the public schools are in shambles.
I respectfully disagree. In saying that, once the term “student althlete” is reversed the process breaks down.
One thing I do believe is aside from insurance, sports programs should be self sustaining.
It was rotten from the beginning, and even Ronald Reagan could not slay that dragon.
How on Earth could usama be anywhere near 50% approval and the shillary one be at 57%. There is Evil afoot in the land, and yet roughly half the people don’t seem to notice.
We truly are living in trying times, not unlike the dark days the Founders faced, will we rise to the task, or will this great experiment of freedom vanish, never to return?
You’re neither Christian nor conservative if you see any role for Government here.
It is TIME to DownSize DC! Starting with the U.S. Department of Education (/re-education), including their SWAT team. (they do have one). CLOSE THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT, NOW!
It is TIME.
I’m both. If you take government money, then the government should be able to check to see if it is being spent legitimately.
Uhhh....shouldn’t this come from the Congress? They are the ones authorizing the expediture. How does the DOE have the power to make the allocation more restrictive?
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