A Look at Arne Duncan

He is right, and the cost of any given university is absurdly high. Of course part of the reason is accessibility of students loans. By themselves they are a good thing, but the high education system has clearly taken advantage of this "free money" to raise their tuition to patently absurd levels.

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Private colleges may price themselves out of the market if they don’t hold down tuition increases, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

Parents and students will choose among universities offering “no-frill campuses” and three-year degree programs over those whose prices “get out of whack with reality,” Duncan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing today.

The average tuition at private four-year colleges increased 5.9 percent to $25,143 in the 2008-2009 school year, according to the New York-based College Board. “At a time when going to college has never been more important, it’s never been more expensive,” Duncan said.

Private colleges raised tuition an average of 4.2 percent for the coming school year, the smallest increase in 37 years, said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a Washington-based lobbying group that represents 955 schools.

For the record I have gone to a pricey university where I did get a good education and as well as an inexpensive private school. To top it of I spent several years getting graduate credits at CUNY queens. Having hit all three I would say this, a class is exactly what you get out of it. Other topics of note:

Some of the money is being used to prod school districts to set a “very high bar” for charter schools and hold them accountable for student performance, Duncan said. Charter schools operate under contracts with districts and are exempt from many rules that govern traditional public schools.“When you pick the best of the best, when you give them clear autonomy and clear accountability, we’re seeing great things happen,” Duncan said of charter schools.

Teacher Pay

Duncan and President Barack Obama also are pushing schools to link student achievement to teacher pay. States barring the use of student-performance data in teacher evaluations would be ineligible for $4.35 billion in competitive stimulus grants, known as Race to the Top funds, under guidelines Duncan and Obama proposed last month.

“Somehow in education, we’ve been scared to talk about excellence,” Duncan said. “I think that has to change.”

Most of the education money will go to states under a noncompetitive formula set in the stimulus legislation. Duncan said he’ll award the competitive grants, including Race to the Top, to “a relatively small number of states and districts that are going to lead the country where we need to go.

Additionally it appears Arne Duncan has a comedy tour coming up next month:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, and Reverend Al Sharpton, a Democrat, plan to join Duncan, starting next month, on a tour of four cities to field suggestions for improving U.S. schools.

“Quite a team, isn’t it?” Duncan said. “If there is anything, as a country, we can come together behind in a non- ideological manner, it’s behind education.”

Considering all of Obama's appointments ,Duncan is the one least in the news, a positive sign as far as I am concerned.