Distance Education: Challenges for Minority Serving Institutions 
and Implications for Federal Education Policy (06-OCT-03,	 
GAO-04-78T).							 
                                                                 
The Higher Education Act of 1965 gives special recognition to	 
some postsecondary schools--called Minority Serving		 
Institutions--that serve a high percentage of minority students. 
These and other schools face stiff challenges in keeping pace	 
with technology. One rapidly growing area, distance education,	 
has commanded particular attention and an estimated 1.5 million  
students have enrolled in at least one distance education course.
In light of this, GAO was asked to provide information on: (1)	 
the use of distance education by Minority Serving Institutions;  
(2) the challenges Minority Serving Institutions face in	 
obtaining and using technology; (3) GAO's preliminary finding on 
the role that accrediting agencies play in ensuring the quality  
of distance education; and (4) GAO's preliminary findings on	 
whether statutory requirements limit federal aid to students	 
involved in distance education. GAO is currently finalizing the  
results of its work on (1) the role of accrediting agencies in	 
reviewing distance education programs and (2) federal student	 
financial aid issues related to distance education.		 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-78T 					        
    ACCNO:   A08660						        
  TITLE:     Distance Education: Challenges for Minority Serving      
Institutions and Implications for Federal Education Policy	 
     DATE:   10/06/2003 
  SUBJECT:   Colleges and universities				 
	     Higher education					 
	     Information technology				 
	     Internet						 
	     Minority education 				 
	     Student financial aid				 
	     Distance education 				 
	     Minority Serving Institutions			 

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GAO-04-78T

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Select Education, Committee on Education and
the Workforce, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST DISTANCE EDUCATION

Monday, October 6, 2003

Challenges for Minority Serving Institutions and Implications for Federal
                                Education Policy

Statement of Cornelia M. Ashby
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security

GAO-04-78T

Highlights of GAO-04-78T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Select
Education, Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of
Representatives

The Higher Education Act of 1965 gives special recognition to some
postsecondary schools-called Minority Serving Institutions-that serve a
high percentage of minority students. These and other schools face stiff
challenges in keeping pace with technology. One rapidly growing area,
distance education, has commanded particular attention and an estimated
1.5 million students have enrolled in at least one distance education
course.

In light of this, GAO was asked to provide information on: (1) the use of
distance education by Minority

October 6, 2003

DISTANCE EDUCATION

Challenges for Minority Serving Institutions and Implications for Federal
Education Policy

There are some variations in the use of distance education at Minority
Serving Institutions when compared to other schools. While it is difficult
to generalize, Minority Serving Institutions offered at least one distance
education course at the same rate as other schools. When Minority Serving
Institutions offered distance education, they did so to improve access for
students who live away from campus and provide convenience to older,
working, or married students. Some Minority Serving Institutions do not
offer distance education because classroom education best meets the needs
of their students. Additionally, schools view the overall use of
technology as a critical tool in educating their students and they
generally indicated that offering more distance education was a lower
priority than using technology to educate their classroom students. The
two primary challenges in meeting technology goals cited by these
institutions were limitations in funding and inadequate staffing to
maintain and operate information technology.

Selected Characteristics of Minority Serving Institutions

               Serving Institutions; (2) the Type of Institution

challenges Minority Serving Institutions face in obtaining and using
technology; (3) GAO's preliminary finding on the role that accrediting
agencies play in ensuring the quality of distance education; and (4) GAO's
preliminary findings on whether statutory requirements limit federal aid
to students involved in

                            Historically Black                   
                                  Colleges and Hispanic Serving    Tribal 
         Characteristics          Universities   Institutions    Colleges 
       Number of schoolsa                  102               334       29 

Percent of each type of institution

                     Public                    50         45          100 
                Private nonprofit              50         23            0 
               Private for-profit                   0     32            0 
         Average number of students per                          
                   institution               2,685      5,141         467 

  distance education. Number of students served in 2000-01 274,000 1.7 million
                                     13,500

GAO is currently finalizing the results of its work on (1) the role of
accrediting agencies in reviewing distance education programs and (2)
federal student financial aid issues related to distance education.

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-78T.

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Cornelia M. Ashby at (202)
512-8403, [email protected].

Source: Department of Education and GAO analysis.

Accrediting agencies have taken steps to ensure the quality of distance
education programs, such as developing supplemental guidelines for
reviewing these programs. However, GAO found (1) no agreed upon set of
standards for holding institutions accountable for student outcomes and
(2) differences in how agencies review distance education programs.
Finally, several statutory rules limit the amount of federal aid for
distance education students. GAO estimates that at least 14 schools are
not eligible or could lose their eligibility for federal student financial
aid if their distance education programs continue to expand. While the
number of schools potentially affected is relatively small in comparison
to the more than 6,000 postsecondary institutions in the country, this is
an important issue for the nearly 210,000 students who attend these
schools. Several factors must be considered before deciding whether to
eliminate or modify these rules. They include the cost of implementation,
the extent to which the changes improve access, and the impact that
changes would have on Education's ability to prevent schools from
fraudulent or abusive practices.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss issues related to distance
education1 and its implications for federal programs that support
postsecondary schools serving a high percentage of minority students and
for the federal student financial aid programs that exceeded $60 billion
in 2003. For over 100 years, the Congress has recognized that some
postsecondary institutions-including the University of Texas
Pan-American-have unique roles to play in educating minority students.
These schools serve a high proportion of minority students and have
special designation under federal law as Minority Serving Institutions.2
Like other postsecondary institutions, over the last decade, Minority
Serving Institutions have faced the challenge of trying to keep pace with
the changing face of technology in education. One rapidly growing area-
distance education-has commanded particular attention on campuses around
the world. In the 1999-2000 school year, an estimated 1.5 million
postsecondary students, or about 1 in 13 students, enrolled in at least
one distance education course, and the Department of Education (Education)
estimates that the number of students involved in distance education has
tripled in just 4 years. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended,
will be reauthorized within the coming year. Among other purposes, the act
provides federal support for Minority Serving Institutions through Titles
III and V, including support for technological improvements at these
schools. Title IV of the act authorizes the federal government to provide
grants, loans, and work-study wages for millions of postsecondary students
each year; however, there are limits on some financial aid to distance
education students.

Given the changes in how education is being offered, you asked us to
testify on the following issues: (1) the use of distance education by
Minority Serving Institutions compared to non-Minority Serving
Institutions; (2) the challenges Minority Serving Institutions face in
obtaining and using technology and how Education monitors technological
progress at these schools; (3) our preliminary findings on

1The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines distance education
as an educational process in which the student is separated in time or
place from the instructor (20 U.S.C. 1093(h)).

2The three main types of Minority Serving Institutions are Historically
Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges, and Hispanic Serving
Institutions. Other types of Minority Serving Institutions include Alaska
Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions.

the role that accrediting agencies play in ensuring the quality of
distance education programs; and (4) our preliminary findings on whether
statutory requirements limit federal student aid for students involved in
distance education. In addition to this statement, we are releasing a
report today on distance education at Minority Serving Institutions.3 This
report discusses many of these issues in more detail. We will issue a
second report in December 2003 on accrediting agencies and statutory and
regulatory issues related to distance education.

Our statement is based on responses to distinct surveys developed and sent
to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving
Institutions, and Tribal Colleges; data on distance education produced by
Education;4 analysis of Education databases;5 visits to seven accrediting
agencies responsible for reviewing two-thirds of all distance education
programs; and interviews with Education officials, accreditors, and
officials of schools with substantial distance education programs. We
performed our work between October 2002 and September 2003 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.

In summary:

o  	There are some variations in the use of distance education at Minority
Serving Institutions and other schools. While it is difficult to
generalize across Minority Serving Institutions, Minority Serving
Institutions tend to offer at least one distance education course at the
same rate as other schools, but they differ in how many courses are
offered and which students take the courses. Like other schools, larger
Minority Serving Institutions tend to offer more distance education than
smaller schools and public schools tend to offer more distance education
than private schools. However, Historically Black Colleges and
Universities and Tribal Colleges generally offered fewer classes, and a
smaller percentage of minority students at Historically Black Colleges and
Universities take such courses. When Minority Serving Institutions offered
distance education, they did so to (1) improve access to courses for some
students who live

3U.S. General Accounting Office, Distance Education: More Data Could
Improve Education's Ability to Track Technology at Minority Serving
Institutions, GAO-03-900 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 12, 2003).

4U.S. Department of Education, Distance Education at Degree-Granting
Postsecondary Education Institutions: 2000-2001 (Washington, D.C.: July
2003).

5We analyzed Education's National Postsecondary Student Aid Study and the
Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System (IPEDS).

away from campus and (2) provide convenience to older, working, or married
students. By design, some Minority Serving Institutions indicated that
they do not offer distance education because they prefer classroom
education to best meet the needs of their students.

o  	Minority Serving Institutions, like other schools, face stiff
challenges in keeping pace with the rapid changes and opportunities
presented by information technology. Minority Serving Institutions view
the use of technology as a critical tool in educating their students and
they generally indicated that offering more distance education was a lower
priority than using technology to educate their classroom students. For
example, all three types of institutions reported that their highest
priority was providing more training for faculty in the use of information
technology as a teaching method. Other priorities included improving
network infrastructure, increasing the use of technology in classrooms,
and guaranteeing that all students have access to a computer. More than
four out of five Minority Serving Institutions indicated that they expect
to have difficulties in meeting their goals related to technology. The two
primary challenges cited by Minority Serving Institutions were (1)
limitations in funding and (2) inadequate staffing to maintain and operate
information technology. With respect to how Education monitors
technological improvements at Minority Serving Institutions, we found that
Education could develop better data to improve their ability to track
technological improvements at Minority Serving Institutions. Specifically,
we found that progress could be made by collecting more complete data on
technology improvements across the three major types of Minority Serving
Institutions and by developing baseline data to measure progress on the
technological capacity at Minority Serving Institutions.

o  	Based on our ongoing work, we have preliminary findings on the role
that accrediting agencies play in ensuring the quality of distance
education programs and information on certain statutory requirements that
limit federal financial aid to distance education students. Uncertainty
about the quality of distance education programs has turned attention
toward what accrediting agencies do to ensure the quality of distance
education programs. Our preliminary analysis shows that while accrediting
agencies have taken steps to ensure the quality of distance education
programs, such as developing supplemental guidelines for reviewing
distance education programs, there are two areas that potentially could
merit further attention. First, there is no agreed upon set of standards
that accrediting agencies use in holding postsecondary institutions
accountable for student outcomes. Second, there are differences in their
procedures for reviewing distance education programs-for example, some
agencies

require institutions to demonstrate comparability between distance
education programs and campus-based programs, while others do not.

o  	Finally, also based on our preliminary work, we found that several
statutory rules-designed to prevent fraud and abuse in distance
education-limit federal aid for distance education students. We estimate
that at least 14 schools are not eligible or could lose their eligibility
for participation in the federal student financial aid programs if their
distance education programs continue to expand. While the number of
schools potentially affected is relatively small in comparison to the more
than 6,000 postsecondary institutions in the country, this is an important
issue for the nearly 210,000 students who attend these schools. Deciding
whether to eliminate or modify these rules involves consideration of
several other factors, including the cost of implementation, the extent to
which the changes improve access to postsecondary schools, and the impact
that changes would have on Education's ability to prevent institutions
from fraudulent or abusive practices.

We are currently finalizing the results of our work on (1) the role of
accrediting agencies in reviewing distance education programs and (2)
federal student financial aid issues related to distance education. A
report on these issues will be available in December 2003.

Background 	Minority Serving Institutions vary in size and scope but
generally serve a high percentage of minority students, many of whom are
financially disadvantaged. In the 2000-01 school year, 465 schools, or
about 7 percent of postsecondary institutions in the United States,6
served about 35 percent of all Black, American Indian, and Hispanic
students. Table 1 briefly compares the three main types of Minority
Serving Institutions in terms of their number, type, and size.

6These include institutions in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, that
are authorized to distribute federal student financial aid.

Table 1: Selected Characteristics of Minority Serving Institutions Type of
                Institution Percent of each type of institution

                                 Historically Black    Hispanic    
                                       Colleges and        Serving     Tribal 
               Characteristics         Universities Institutions     Colleges 
            Number of schoolsa                  102            334 

                                         Public       50           45     100 
                              Private nonprofit       50           23 
                             Private for-profit        0           32 
                 Average number of students per    2,685    5,141         467 
                                    institution                       
           Number of students served in 2000-01  274,000 1.7 million   13,500 

Source: Department of Education and GAO analysis of IPEDS for the 2000-01
school year.

aThis figure represents the number of schools eligible for the federal
student aid programs in the 2000-01 school year based on our analysis of
IPEDS.

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, provides specific federal
support for Minority Serving Institutions through Titles III and V. These
provisions authorize grants for augmenting the limited resources that many
Minority Serving Institutions have for funding their academic programs. In
2002, grants funded under these two titles provided over $300 million for
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving
Institutions, and Tribal Colleges to improve their academic quality,
institutional management, and fiscal stability. Technology is one of the
many purposes to which these grants can be applied, both inside the
classroom and, in the form of distance education, outside the classroom.

Technology is changing how institutions educate their students, and
Minority Serving Institutions, like other schools, are grappling with how
best to adapt. Through such methods as E-mail, chat rooms, and direct
instructional delivery via the Internet, technology can enhance students'
ability to learn any time, any place, rather than be bound by time or
place in the classroom or in the library. For Minority Serving
Institutions, the importance of technology takes on an additional
dimension in that available research indicates their students may arrive
with less prior access to technology, such as computers and the Internet,
than their

counterparts in other schools.7 These students may need considerable
exposure to technology to be fully equipped with job-related skills.

The growth of distance education has added a new dimension to evaluating
the quality of postsecondary education programs. Federal statutes
recognize accrediting agencies8 as the gatekeepers of postsecondary
education quality. To be eligible for the federal student aid program, a
school must be periodically reviewed and accredited by such an agency.
Education, in turn, is responsible for recognizing an accrediting agency
as a reliable authority on quality. While the accreditation process
applies to both distance education and campus-based instruction, many
accreditation practices focus on the traditional means of providing
campus-based education, such as the adequacy of classroom facilities or
recruiting and admission practices. These measures can be more difficult
to apply to distance education when students are not on campus or may not
interact with faculty in person. In this new environment, postsecondary
education officials are increasingly recommending that outcomes-such as
course completion rates or success in written communication-be
incorporated as appropriate into assessments of distance education.

The emphasis on student outcomes has occurred against a backdrop of the
federal government, state governments, and the business community asking
for additional information on what students are learning for the tens of
billions of taxpayer dollars that support postsecondary institutions each
year. While there is general recognition that the United States has one of
the best postsecondary systems in the world, this call for greater
accountability has occurred because of low completion rates among
low-income students (only 6 percent earn a bachelors degree or higher),
perceptions that the overall 6-year institutional graduation rate (about
52 percent) at 4-year schools and the completion rate at 2-year schools
(about 33 percent) are low, and a skills gap in problem solving,
communications, and analytical thinking between what students are taught
and what employers need in the 21st Century workplace.

7The Web-Based Education Commission, The Power of the Internet for
Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice (Washington D.C.: December
2000).

8Education defines an accrediting agency as a legal entity, or that part
of a legal entity, that conducts accrediting activities through voluntary,
nonfederal peer review and makes decisions concerning the accreditation or
preaccreditation status of institutions, programs, or both.

For the most part, students taking distance education courses can qualify
for financial aid in the same way as students taking traditional courses.9
As the largest provider of student financial aid to postsecondary
students, the federal government has a substantial interest in distance
education. Under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended,
the federal government provides grants, loans, and work-study wages for
millions of students each year. There are limits, however, on the use of
federal student aid at schools with large distance education offerings.
Concerns about the quality of some correspondence courses more than a
decade ago led the Congress, as a way of controlling fraud and abuse in
federal student aid programs, to impose restrictions on the extent to
which schools could offer distance education and still qualify to
participate in federal student aid programs. The rapid growth of distance
education and emerging delivery modes, such as Internet-based classes,
have led to questions about whether these restrictions are still needed
and how the restrictions might affect students' access to federal aid
programs. Distance education's effect on helping students complete their
courses of study is still largely unknown. Although there is some
anecdotal evidence that distance education can help students complete
their programs or graduate from college, school officials that we spoke to
did not identify any studies that evaluated the extent to which distance
education has improved completion or graduation rates.

9Students who took their entire program through distance education courses
received an estimated $763 million in federal student aid in the1999-2000
school year. Students who took at least one distance education course may
have also received federal student aid; however, the data sources used by
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study do not distinguish aid awarded
for distance education courses and traditional classroom courses.

  Distance Education Use Varies between Minority Serving Institutions and Other
  Schools, with Some Minority Serving Institutions Choosing Not to Offer Any
  Distance Education

There are some variations in the use of distance education at Minority
Serving Institutions and other schools. While it is difficult to
generalize across the Minority Serving Institutions, the available data
indicate that Minority Serving Institutions tend to offer at least one
distance education course at the same rate as other schools, but they
differ in how many courses are offered and which students take the
courses. Overall, the percentage of schools offering at least one distance
education course in the 2002-03 school year was 56 percent for
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 63 percent for Hispanic
Serving Institutions, and 63 percent for Tribal Colleges, based on data
from our surveys of Minority Serving Institutions. Similarly, 56 percent
of 2- and 4-year schools across the country offered at least one distance
education course in the 2000-01 school year, according to a separate
survey conducted by Education.10 Minority Serving Institutions also tended
to mirror other schools in that larger schools were more likely to offer
distance education than smaller schools, and public schools were more
likely to offer distance education than private schools. Tribal Colleges
were an exception; all of them were small, but the percentage of schools
offering distance education courses was relatively high compared to other
smaller schools. The greater use of distance education among Tribal
Colleges may reflect their need to serve students who often live in remote
areas.

In two respects, however, the use of distance education at Minority
Serving Institutions differed from other schools. First, of those
institutions offering at least one distance education course, Historically
Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges generally offered
fewer distance education courses-a characteristic that may reflect the
smaller size of these two types of institutions compared to other
schools.11 Second, to the extent that data are available, minority
students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic
Serving Institutions participate in distance education to a somewhat lower
degree than other students. For example, in the 1999-2000 school year,
fewer undergraduates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities took
distance education courses than students at non-Minority Serving
Institutions-6 percent v.

10The data from our survey and survey conducted by Education are not
completely comparable because they cover two different time periods.
Education's survey covered the 2000-01 school year while our survey
covered the 2002-03 school year.

11Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges are
generally smaller in size than postsecondary institutions overall. The
average Hispanic Serving Institution, however, was more than two times
larger than the average postsecondary institution in 2000.

8.4 percent of undergraduates-a condition that may reflect the fact that
these schools offer fewer distance education courses. Also, at Hispanic
Serving Institutions, Hispanic students had lower rates of participation
in distance education than non-Hispanic students attending these schools.
These differences were statistically significant.

We found that Minority Serving Institutions offered distance education
courses12 for two main reasons: (1) they improve access to courses for
some students who live away from campus and (2) they provide convenience
to older, working, or married students. The following examples illustrate
these conditions.

o  	Northwest Indian College, a Tribal College in Bellingham, Washington,
has over 10 percent of its 600 students involved in distance education. It
offers distance education by videoconference equipment or correspondence.
The College offers over 20 distance education courses, such as mathematics
and English to students at seven remote locations in Washington and Idaho.
According to College officials, distance education technology is essential
because it provides access to educational opportunities for students who
live away from campus. For example, some students taking distance
education courses live hundreds of miles from the College in locations
such as the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho and the Makah Reservation in
Neah Bay, Washington. According to school officials, students involved in
distance education tend to be older with dependents, and therefore, find
it difficult to take courses outside of their community. Also, one
official noted that staying within the tribal community is valued and
distance education allows members of tribes to stay close to their
community and still obtain skills or a degree.

o  	The University of the Incarnate Word is a private nonprofit Hispanic
Serving Institution with an enrollment of about 6,900 students. The
school, located in San Antonio, Texas, offers on-line degree and
certificate programs, including degrees in business, nursing, and
information technology. About 2,400 students are enrolled in the school's
distance education program. The school's on-line programs are directed at
nontraditional students (students who are 24 years old or older), many of
whom are Hispanic. In general, the ideal candidates for the on-line
program are older students, working adults, or adult learners who have

12The two most common modes of delivering distance education for Minority
Serving Institutions were (1) on-line courses using a computer and (2)
live courses transmitted via videoconference.

been out of high school for 5 or more years, according to the Provost and
the Director of Instructional Technology.

Not all schools wanted to offer distance education, however, and we found
that almost half of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and
Hispanic Serving Institutions13 did not offer any distance education
because they preferred to teach their students in the classroom rather
than through distance education.14 Here are examples from 2 schools that
prefer teaching their students in the classroom rather than by the use of
distance education.

o  	Howard University, an Historically Black University in Washington,
D.C., with about 10,000 students, has substantial information technology;
however, it prefers to use the technology in teaching undergraduates on
campus rather than through developing and offering distance education. The
University has state-of-the-art hardware and software, such as wireless
access to the school's network; a digital auditorium; and a 24-hour-a-day
Technology Center, which support and enhance the academic achievement for
its students. Despite its technological capabilities, the University does
not offer distance education courses to undergraduates and has no plans to
do so. According to the Dean of Scholarships and Financial Aid, the
University prefers teaching undergraduates in the classroom because more
self-discipline is needed when taking distance education courses. Also,
many undergraduates benefit from the support provided by students and
faculty in a classroom setting.

o  	Robert Morris College is a private nonprofit Hispanic Serving
Institution located in Chicago, Illinois, that offers bachelor degrees in
business, computer technology, and health sciences. About 25 percent of
its 6,200 undergraduates are Hispanic. Although the College has one
computer for every 4 students, it does not offer distance education
courses and has no plans to do so. School officials believe that classroom
education best meets the needs of its students because of the personal
interaction that occurs in a classroom setting.

13Forty-four percent of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 37
percent of Hispanic Serving Institutions, and 39 percent of Tribal
Colleges did not offer any distance education.

14Conversely, only 10 percent of Tribal Colleges that are not involved in
distance education indicated that classroom education best meets the needs
of their students.

Among Minority Serving Institutions that do not offer distance education,
over 50 percent would like to offer distance education in the future, but
indicated that they have limited resources with which to do so. About half
of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving
Institutions that do not offer distance education indicated that they do
not have the necessary technology-including students with access to
computers at their residences-for distance education. A higher percentage
of Tribal Colleges (67 percent) cited limitations in technology as a
reason why they do not offer distance education. Technological limitations
are twofold for Tribal Colleges. The first, and more obvious limitation is
a lack of resources to purchase and develop needed technologies. The
second is that due to the remote location of some campuses, needed
technological infrastructure is not there-that is, schools may be limited
to the technology of the surrounding communities. All 10 Tribal Colleges
that did not offer distance education indicated that improvements in
technology, such as videoconference equipment and network infrastructure
with greater speed, would be helpful.

Minority Serving Institutions, like other schools, face stiff challenges
in keeping pace with the rapid changes and opportunities presented by
information technology and Education could improve how technological
progress is monitored. Minority Serving Institutions view the use of
technology as a critical tool in educating their students. With respect to
their overall technology goals, Minority Serving Institutions viewed using
technology in the classroom as a higher priority than offering distance
education. (See fig. 1.) Other priorities included improving network
infrastructure and providing more training for faculty in the use of
information technology as a teaching method.

  Minority Serving Institutions Face Sizable Challenges in Using Technology,
  Including Distance Education, and Education's Efforts to Monitor Technology
  Could Be Improved

Figure 1: Distance Education Generally Ranks Lower in Relation to Other
Technology Goals

Minority Serving Institutions indicated that they expect to have
difficulties in meeting their goals related to technology. Eighty-seven
percent of Tribal Colleges, 83 percent of Historically Black Colleges and
Universities, and 82 percent of Hispanic Serving Institutions cited
limitations in funding as a primary reason for why they may not achieve
their technology-related goals. For example, the Southwest Indian
Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, serves about 670
students and it uses distance education to provide courses for an
associates degree in early childhood development to about 100 students.
The school uses two-way satellite

communication and transmits the courses to 11 remote locations. According
to a technology specialist at the school, this form of distance education
is expensive compared to other methods. As an alternative, the Institute
would like to establish two-way teleconferencing capability and Internet
access at the off-site locations as a means of expanding educational
opportunities. However, officials told us that they have no means to fund
this alternative.

About half of the schools also noted that they might experience difficulty
in meeting their goals because they did not have enough staff to operate
and maintain information technology and to help faculty apply technology.
For example, officials at Dine College, a Tribal College on the Navajo
Reservation, told us they have not been able to fill a systems analyst
position for the last 3 years. School officials cited their remote
location and the fact that they are offering relatively low pay as
problems in attracting employees that have skills in operating and
maintaining technology equipment.

Having a systematic approach to expanding technology on campuses is an
important step toward improving technology at postsecondary schools. About
75 percent of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 70 percent of
Hispanic Serving Institutions, and 48 percent of Tribal Colleges had
completed a strategic plan for expanding their technology infrastructure.
Fewer schools had completed a financial plan for funding technology
improvements. About half of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
and Hispanic Serving Institutions, and 19 percent of Tribal Colleges have
a financial plan for expanding their information technology.

Studies by other organizations describe challenges faced by Minority
Serving Institutions in expanding their technology infrastructure. For
example, an October 2000 study by Booz, Allen, and Hamilton determined
that historically or predominantly Black colleges identified challenges in
funding, strategic planning, and keeping equipment up to date. An October
2000 report by the Department of Commerce found that most Historically
Black Colleges and Universities have access to computing resources, such
as high-speed Internet capabilities, but individual student access to
campus networks is seriously deficient due to, among other things, lack of
student ownership of computers or lack of access from campus dormitories.
An April 2003 Senate Report noted that only one Tribal College has funding
for high-speed Internet.

Education has made progress in monitoring the technological progress of
Minority Serving Institutions; however, its efforts could be improved in

two ways. First, more complete data on how Historically Black Colleges and
Universities and Tribal Colleges use Title III funds for improving
technology on campus, and thus, the education of students, would help
inform program managers and policymakers about progress that has been made
and opportunities for improvement. Education's tracking system appears to
include sufficient information on technology at Hispanic Serving
Institutions. Second, although Education has set a goal of improving
technology capacity at Minority Serving Institutions, it has not yet
developed a baseline against which progress can be measured. If Education
is to be successful in measuring progress in this area, it may need to
take a more proactive role in modifying existing research efforts to
include information on the extent to which technology is available at
schools.

Committee hearings such as this, reinforce the importance of effective
monitoring and good data collection efforts. As the Congress considers the
status of programs that aid Minority Serving Institutions, or examines
creating new programs15 for improving technology capacity at these
institutions, it will be important that agencies adequately track how
students benefit from expenditures of substantial federal funds. Without
improved data collection efforts, programs are at risk of granting funds
that may not benefit students.

  Accrediting Agencies Have Made Progress in Ensuring the Quality of Distance
  Education Programs; However, Two Areas May Merit Attention

Accrediting agencies have made progress in ensuring the quality of
distance education programs. For example, they have developed supplemental
guidelines for evaluating distance education programs and they have placed
additional emphasis on evaluating student outcomes. Additionally, the
Council on Higher Education Accreditation-an organization that represents
accrediting agencies-has issued guidance and several issue papers on
evaluating the quality of distance education programs. Furthermore, some
accrediting agencies have called attention to the need for greater
consistency in their procedures because distance education allows students
to enroll in programs from anywhere in the country. While progress has
been made, our preliminary work has identified two areas that may
potentially merit attention.

15In April 2003, the Senate passed S. 196, Minority Serving Institution
Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act of 2003 to strengthen
technology infrastructure at Minority Serving Institutions. If enacted,
this statute would create a new grant program at the National Science
Foundation for funding technology improvements at institutions that serve
a high percentage of minority students.

o  	While accrediting agencies have made progress in reviewing the quality
of distance education programs, there is no agreed upon set of standards
for holding schools accountable for student outcomes. In terms of progress
made, for example, the Council on Higher Education Accreditation has
issued guidance on reviewing distance education programs. In addition,
some agencies have endorsed supplemental guidelines for distance education
and four of the seven agencies have revised their standards to place
greater emphasis on student learning outcomes. Not withstanding the
progress that has been made, we found that agencies have no agreed upon
set of standards for holding institutions accountable for student
outcomes. Our preliminary work shows that one strategy for ensuring
accountability is to make information on student achievement and
attainment available to the public, according to Education. The Council on
Higher Education Accreditation and some accrediting agencies are
considering ways to do this, such as making program and institutional data
available to the public; however, few if any of the agencies we reviewed
currently have standards that require institutions to disclose such
information to the public.

o  	The second issue involves variations in agency procedures for
reviewing the quality of distance education. For example, agency
procedures for reviewing distance education differ from one another in the
degree to which agencies require institutions to have measures that allow
them to compare their distance learning courses with their campus-based
courses. Five agencies require institutions to demonstrate comparability
between distance education programs and campus-based programs. For
example, one agency requires that "the institution evaluate the
educational effectiveness of its distance education programs (including
assessments of student learning outcomes, student retention, and student
satisfaction) to ensure comparability to campus-based programs." The two
other agencies do not explicitly require such comparisons.

  Certain Statutory Requirements Limiting Federal Aid to Students Involved in
  Distance Education May Cause Some Students to Lose Eligibility for Such Aid

Finally, we found that if some statutory requirements-requirements that
were designed to prevent fraud and abuse in distance education-remain as
they are, increasing numbers of students will lose eligibility for the
federal student aid programs. Our preliminary work shows that 9 schools
that are participating in Education's Distance Education Demonstration
Program16 collectively represent about 200,000 students whose eligibility
for financial aid could be adversely affected without changes to the 50
percent rule-a statutory requirement that limits aid to students who
attend institutions that have 50 percent or more of their students or
courses involved in distance education. As part of the demonstration
program, 7 of the 9 schools received waivers from Education to the 50
percent rule so that their students can continue to receive federal
financial aid. We identified 5 additional schools representing another
8,500 students that are subject to, or may be subject to, the rule in the
near future if their distance education programs continue to expand. These
5 schools have not received waivers from Education.

While the number of schools currently affected is small in comparison to
the over 6,000 postsecondary schools in the country, this is an important
issue for more than 200,000 students who attend these schools. In deciding
whether to eliminate or modify these rules, the Congress and the
Administration will need to ensure that changes to federal student aid
statutes and regulations do not increase the chances of fraud, waste, and
abuse to federal student financial aid programs.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I will be happy to respond to
any questions you or other members of the Subcommittee might have.

16The Congress created the demonstration program in the 1998 amendments to
the Higher Education Act to study and test possible solutions to federal
student aid issues related to distance education. The program has
authority to grant waivers on certain statutory or regulatory requirements
related to distance education and the federal student financial aid
programs.

Contacts and For further information, please contact Cornelia M. Ashby at
(202) 512-8403. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony
include Jerry

Acknowledgments Aiken, Neil Asaba, Kelsey Bright, Jill Peterson, and Susan
Zimmerman.

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