Education

Colleges and universities raked in money by the billions last year. But their investing success now has a price a movement in Congress to force the wealthiest schools to spend more of their money to keep down tuition.

In recent weeks, a string of colleges and universities have announced enviable investment results. Leading the way was Yale, which earned 28 percent over the year ending June 30, increasing the school's endowment to $22.5 billion overall. …

Hillary Clinton Includes Two New America Policy Proposals in Her Education Plan

Theres been discussion in Congress recently about how the tax code can be better used to encourage college attendance among low-income students. One proposal being considered by the Senate Finance Committee is to make higher education tax credits refundable and thus available to people who now do not benefit from them because they dont make enough money to pay any federal income taxes.

University of Miami officials have confirmed they sent students' private data to lender Sallie Mae last summer, even though students said they never applied for a federal loan from the company.

In the school's view, students did apply for a loan when they filled out the standard form all students submit to establish eligibility, financial aid director James Bauer said.

Lenders that market private loans directly to students are increasingly using state open government laws to demand public colleges turn over personal data on their students.

Last year, oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens broke the all-time record for gift-giving to a university athletics program when he donated $165 million to Oklahoma State University, his alma mater. Not only did OSU's sports program benefit, but Pickens himself received a large subsidy from the government because he was able to deduct that contribution from his income taxes.

Wealthy College Endowments Keep Increasing

While the threatened showdown between Congress and President Bush over the College Cost Reduction Act never materialized, a different fiscal fight between the two branches of government is looming, this one over annual appropriations spending bills.

The New America Foundation released a paper today providing a detailed analysis of the current budget battle and its implications for education funding. The report finds that education funding has not been a driver of recent increases in federal spending and proposed increases are relatively minor compared to the overall budget.

The White House and Congress are engaged in a major budget debate that threatens a government shutdown and could markedly influence federal education funding. Congressional Democrats have proposed significant increases in education spending for Fiscal Year 2008, while the President has proposed to cut Education Department funding and threatened to veto relevant spending bills.