LSU President F. King Alexander will lead a committee on college rating systems at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ annual conference in Los Angeles this week.
Alexander will preside over a panel featuring United States Undersecretary for Education Martha Kanter today. Kanter will lead a discussion on President Barack Obama’s new proposal for a system of higher education funding.
The proposal, unveiled in August, aims to make higher education more affordable by offering federal incentives to universities that offer high rates of graduation at low cost to students.
Alexander has previously come out in support of the president’s plan, saying it would likely benefit the University. When the plan was first
announced, Alexander said the University’s graduation rates and relatively low student tuition and fees would put it high on the government’s new ranking system.
The panel, entitled “Ratings, Quality and Educational Innovation – A Conversation with Martha Kanter,” will focus on developing methods for rating universities by performance and tuition without sacrificing performance and access, according to an AASCU statement.
Alexander has worked with Kanter in the past, having traveled to Washington in August to drum up support for increased Pell Grant expenditures and student loan reform.