The U.S. Department of Education is awaiting approval to conduct a national survey of students who are currently receiving Pell Grants.
The request has sparked 11 national higher education associations to voice concern over the way the survey has been conducted, which could affect how major universities deal with credit transfer.
The criticism comes six months before the end of Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling's tenure, the downfalls of which have seen much scrutiny in the higher education world as the U.S. Congress seeks to renew a new version of the Higher Education Act.
The education department requested an emergency survey last week to ask Pell Grant recipients about the challenges they face when transferring credits from one institution to another. Pell Grants are federal funds given to college students who need to most help.
The education department has said it is concerned with wasting taxpayer resources, which it says occurs every time a Pell Grant recipient is forced to repeat coursework when transferring schools.
As written in the request, the impromptu survey is "designed to determine the satisfaction of Pell Grant recipients with the financial aid process and to identify and describe problems that they may encounter when attempting to transfer credits from one institution to another."
The department requested permission to conduct the survey the day after its request. The department is required to receive permission from the Office of Management and Budget when it wants to use taxpayer money to survey college students. The main criticism came because the department did not want to wait for public comment before spending approximately $375,000 to do the survey.
Jennifer Poulakidas, a vice president at the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, which is one of the 11 associations that spoke out against the department, said she did not see the need for an emergency survey.
"Our concern, shared with many others in the higher education community, is that there doesn't seem to be any rationale behind the survey," Poulakidas said.
Staff in UT's Office of Student Financial Services and the admissions office said they fail to see any correlation between Pell Grant recipients and troublesome credit transfers.
"In general, there are a host of students that face similar issues, not just Pell Grant recipients," said Kedra Ishop, UT associate director of admissions.
The education department, which has not yet started the survey because it has not been approved, insists on starting it immediately because of Congress' pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which could possibly include new requirements for how institutions disclose credit-transfer policies.
According to the survey's mission statement, the results of the survey could be influential in the reauthorization process.
"If one reads the proposal, it's laughable," said Barmak Nassirian, spokesperson for American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "The bill currently pending in Congress, is sited by administration as one of the reasons why it is seeking this emergency request. Critics point out, however, that reauthorization of the bill rejects the administration's previous policy proposal on transfer and would hardly be legitimate grounds for the department's efforts to resuscitate its transfer proposal."
Nassirian said the battle of transferring credits started with trade schools and for-profit institutions that now offer higher-level degrees. He said the problem lies with universities that are skeptical about the standards of the classes at these schools and the rigor of the coursework. If major universities were forced to adopt new credit-transfer policies, the legitimacy of credits accepted is compromised.
"It's a horrible practice, an intrusion on institutions on what requires a student to graduate," Nassirian said. "The policy would basically force us to take credit without right to question the adequacy of the institution."
Nassirian said he is skeptical of the Department of Education's administration, which he believes is "undermining legitimate institutions in favor of shabby ones."
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