HIGHER ED FUNDING AVAILABLE - More than $4.6 billion in technology-
oriented federal grants are now available to institutions of higher education, according
to a report by Input, a government market research firm. The report looks at three
federal grant recipients Carnegie-Mellon, MIT, and UC Berkeley, who collectively
received over $730 million in awards in 2002. Meredith Luttner, manager of state
and local market development at Input, said, the federal government is the largest
funding source for information technology projects in higher education. The majority
of federally granted IT funds are used to purchase hardware and software for
colleges and universities. For more information visit: http://higheredgrants.input.com
(Syllabus, 16 Sept 03)

PROPOSED DISTANCE EDUCATION REGULATION CHANGE CRITICIZED -
Testimony at a Congressional subcommittee hearing warned that repeal of a federal
distance education regulation known as the 50% rule might result in inadequate
oversight of online programs. The rule prohibits students who attend colleges that
enroll more than half of their students at a distance from receiving federal financial aid.
The bill under consideration, HR 3039, would repeal the 50% rule for
telecommunication programs such as online or satellite-based courses. It would not
affect application of the rule to traditional correspondence programs. A recent
Department of Education report on institutions that had the rule waived on a trial
basis concluded that eliminating the rule caused no problems. The report
recommended revising or eliminating the regulation. For the full article see:
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003091202t.htm (Chronicle of Higher
Education, 12 Sept 03 - EduPage, 12 Sept 03)