This article reports that Congress is cranky about how colleges spend money. Over the last three years, regulation-minded lawmakers have investigated university endowments, intercollegiate athletics, and presidential pay, but that grilling has largely ceased. A presidential election has dulled legislative ambitions, and Congress has its hands full…

Skeptics question whether infusion of billions of dollars for education in the economic-stimulus bill before Congress would actually give a healthy jolt to the economy. The bill would help thousands of students pay for college and could give colleges money to fix crumbling buildings. Some members of Congress are calling for the removal of…

Senator Charles E. Grassley may be backing away from his threat to offer legislation that would require the wealthiest institutions to spend up to 5% of their endowment assets each year. At a panel discussion on Capitol Hill last week, the Iowa senator, who is the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, strongly hinted that he would…

In a speech before a group of career-college executives and lobbyists, freshman Representative Jason Altmire hinted that he would look out for the sector's interests in a coming conference between the House of Representatives and the Senate on legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Referring to a provision in the bill that would…

A record-breaking number of Congressional pork-barrel projects this year has loaded college and university plates with more earmarks than ever before, despite growing worries that the noncompetitive grants undermine the American scientific enterprise, and in spite of promises by some lawmakers to cut back. An analysis by "The Chronicle" shows that…

A Chinese list of the world's top universities would seem an unlikely concern for French politicians. But this year, France's legislature took aim at the annual rankings produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which claims to list the 500 best universities in the world. The highest-ranked French entry, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, comes in…

For the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the drinking age recently questioned by college presidents, is not a topic for debate. In August the organization publicly berated the Amethyst Initiative, a group of 100 presidents and chancellors who signed a statement urging legislators to revisit the law and to examine its effectiveness. The…

Skepticism among lawmakers in Congress that colleges are adequately trying to control costs may hinder legislation that would extend tax breaks for higher education, according to the chairman of the influential Senate Finance Committee. Senator Max S. Baucus said skepticism on Capitol Hill has been fueled by anger over multimillion-dollar coaches'…

Several months into a credit crunch that has led at least 20 lenders to leave the guaranteed loan program or suspend their lending operations, lawmakers have begun to respond with a sense of urgency, even as they seek to reassure students and parents that a crisis is unlikely and that federal student loans will still be available this fall. In the…

Among the many groups of Barack Obama's supporters who considered him one of their own, and helped propel him into the presidency, were large numbers of the nation's college professors, administrators, and students. The president-elect won overwhelming support from academe throughout the campaign. The Obama campaign aggressively courted student…

Public colleges often blame their tuition increases on state lawmakers who the colleges say have not given them enough extra money to keep up with rising costs. This year, many states' public colleges received sizable infusions of public money and still raised tuition. In nearly half of the states, both state appropriations for higher education…

During the three presidential debates this fall, both John McCain and Barack Obama opened by thanking their university hosts. If not for their locations, it's likely one would not have heard the words "college," "university," or "higher education" even uttered in the debates. Indeed, it wasn't until the final debate that Senator McCain mentioned…

Barack Obama agreed to answer a series of questions submitted via e-mail to his campaign. This article presents excerpts of "The Chronicle"'s exchange with the senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, in which he discussed his policy suggestions for student aid and college access; the appropriate role of the federal…

Differences in political ideology between college and university administrators and federal legislators have brought about lack of communication, mistrust, and indifference between Congress and higher education. This article discusses the bridging of these differences through common understanding and collaboration to meet the challenges faced by…

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…