Recent political action by the Higher Education Assistance Foundation, the largest student-loan guarantee agency, has highlighted the increase in contributions by administrators, faculty, owners of proprietary schools, and lobbyists to legislators' campaigns, and the growing sophistication of the process. Supporters call it prudent; opponents…

Higher education must tell legislatures how the state should raise the money the colleges want to spend--even if it means higher taxes--and then lobby on behalf of those proposals. This also means addressing new and potentially controversial issues about the role of colleges in state politics. (MLW)

Two-year colleges are trying to change legislators' perceptions about their institutions, demanding increased state support, and working together to lobby as a state system rather than as individual institutions. (MSE)

John Brademas' career in national politics and its effect on his approach to his work as president of New York University are discussed. (MSE)

On any given day, higher education is represented in Washington, by not only lobbyists, but also students, administrators, experts on a variety of related issues, and professors turned legislators. A typical day finds these groups in varied activities directed at influencing policy. The American Council on Education is at the center of higher…

Many campus administrators in Alabama also serve in the state legislature, participating in debates and votes affecting their institutions. The potential for conflicts of interest has damaged state policy on higher education. Some recent incidents are described. (MLW)

Believing they are threatened by the Education Department, which they consider unfriendly, officials of proprietary schools have made substantial campaign contributions over the past two years to shore up their support in Congress, just at the time lawmakers prepared to consider changes in student-aid rules that would be unfavorable to…

Rep. Pat Williams, the new chairman of the House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee, visits college campuses and observes what the problems are. A recent visit to Pennsylvania State is described in which he listened to students in the financial aid office, inspected research facilities, and talked with university administrators. (MLW)

The eight years of Ronald Reagan's presidency have included tremendous economic, social, and political change. Views on those changes in higher education vary. Six stories tell how colleges and Washington's lobbyists and lawmakers have changed in that period. (MLW)