Spellings Commission Report on Affordability and Access to Higher Education: Changing Demographics, Economic Crisis and Investment in Human Capital

Abstract

The paper discusses report of The Spellings Commission for Future of Higher Education that was set up to look into the issues facing the higher education system in the U.S., outline the challenges and offer recommendations to tackle the problems. Most importantly, The Spellings Commission Report raised the issue of the role of federal government in the development of higher education system. The paper focuses on one of the issues raised by the Spellings Commission, access to higher education. The paper suggests that today access still remains an issue for higher education in the U.S. Adjusting to changing demographic trends, increased ethnic diversity and increased enrollments with limited federal resources and complicated federal aid system is still a challenge of the future. The question that remains to be answered is: ‘Will the federal government sustain its traditional commitment to equalizing opportunities for higher education?’