Get active to improve higher ed

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in Congress has attracted a lot of attention this fall, but it's not the only education measure under review. This is the 50th anniversary of the original Higher Education Act (HEA), and many people feel it's time for change.

First passed in 1965 to ensure that every individual has access to higher education, regardless of income, the law governs the nation’s student-aid programs, federal aid to colleges, and oversight of teacher preparation. The reauthorization process is the perfect opportunity to re-address those areas of the law that are broken.

NEA priorities include:

• Making college more affordable
• Improve teacher preparation
• Recognize educators as stakeholders
• Read the details for NEA Priorities for HEA Reauthorization

To help this effort, NEA, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), representing more than 350,000 higher-education faculty and staff, together have issued recommendations to Congress [PDF] around the reauthorization of HEA. Along with guidelines to make college more affordable, the document also contains language aimed at reversing the trend toward the use of contingent academic labor.

What you can do: sign NEA's petition to Congress, asking it to protect the public good that is public higher education. And join NEA's Degrees Not Debt campaign to protect the interests of our post-secondary students.