Since its creation in 1992, the Public Health Service's Office of Research Integrity has not won a single case against a scientist accused of research misconduct. Cases are adjudicated by a panel of lawyers. Scientists and critics agree that the government's failure will have serious consequences for the research community. (MSE)

A recent Department of Education study, developed with the assistance of the Internal Revenue Service, found that of 2.3 million Pell Grants in 1995-96, 102,000 went to students who failed to report or underreported family income. More than 300 recipients had each underreported income by over $100,000. The report comes when the Clinton…

Public officials and student aid experts agree that the federal program delivery system is outdated, inefficient, and vulnerable to fraud, but they disagree on how bad the situation is and whether the Education Department has the structure necessary to fix it. A 1995 project to integrate all federal grant and loan programs into one system has not…

College students are complaining that Congress has made it too difficult to demonstrate financial independence to qualify for federal financial aid. Legislation in 1992 tightened the policy on financial independence to prevent affluent students from cheating the system. Colleges are reluctant to step in for fear of state-conducted audits of…