UNC-system President Tom Ross is one of the top education leaders named to a new task force that will recommend solutions for curtailing the financial impact of federal regulations on universities.
The Task Force on Government Regulation of Higher Education, announced last week by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, comes amid complaints that government red tape has driven up tuition costs.
Congress has begun the process of renewing the Higher Education Act, a law that stipulates how federal dollars are dispensed to colleges and students. As part of the ongoing heaings about the reauthorization of the act, the task force is meant to make recommendations to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committe.
The 14-member panel also includes N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University Chancellor Harold Martin, other university presidents and higher education experts.
It will review federal regulations and reporting requirements and identify which rules could be eliminated or simplified to reduce costs and confusion.
“The tidal wave of regulations and reporting requirements faced by colleges and universities today is stifling innovation and, worse, raising college tuition price tags as schools pass on these compliance costs to students,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., in a joint statement with other lawmakers announcing the task force.
In-state and out-of-state tuition at UNC-system campuses has risen steadily in recent years, including an out-of-state tuition hike planned for next year.
In a phone interview, Ross said it was too early to comment on which regulations the task force will examine but said questions likely to come up during task force meetings include how often universities need to file reports and how much detail should be included.
“I’m not somebody who believes in getting rid of regulations just because it’s easier,” Ross said. “I think a lot of regulations have good reasons behind them, and you don’t want to throw them out without some thought.”
