Caret's Report Card

Let's take a look:

"UMass to rate its performance in simpler way; President lists 21 broad goals; evaluations at each campus" by Marcella Bombardieri |  Globe Staff, July 08, 2013

University of Massachusetts president Robert L. Caret, setting aside widespread qualms on individual campuses, has developed a list of performance goals that will be used to essentially grade the system, an effort to show that public money is being well spent and to spur healthier graduation rates and economic activity.

For years, UMass has churned out statistic-laden reports that, at 100 or even 250 pages, few people read. Caret, who calls himself “a data guy,” said it is time for a more user-friendly report card of sorts, a short brochure that not only tells the public where the institution is but where it should be.

“We can’t just accept the fact that we have a, let’s say, 54 percent graduation rate or even 66 percent,” Caret said. “We want to say, what should our graduation rate be . . . and how do we get there.’’ 

Is it really that low? All that loan debt and no degree?

When the first performance report is released next spring, the printed pamphlet will include only a systemwide evaluation for each of 21 broad goals, such as improving student success and managing financial resources efficiently. But each campus will be rated internally in order to come up with an average; Caret said those ratings would be available upon request even if they are not promoted.

Caret arrived at UMass two years ago eager to replicate what worked at Towson University in Maryland, where he served as president for eight years. There, his accountability project was simply called a report card....

The idea of a report card touched a nerve still raw from the early 1990s, when then-UMass president Michael Hooker gave the system an overall grade of C-plus in an interview with the Globe. Uproar ensued, with professors from several campuses castigating Hooker for damaging the institution and protesters in Amherst giving him an F in return....

Related: No Safe Schools in Massachusetts

Did that ever raise an uproar directed at the Globe!

Caret just persuaded the Legislature to allocate an extra $39 million to the university system to preserve the quality of the campuses and give students a break after years of increases in tuition or fees – a major victory after years of declining state funding....

Well, the kids loan rates still went up, but thanks.

Related: Slow Saturday Special: Massachusetts Saves Students Tuition Hike

And Caret is being paid how much? 

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Globe gave him an A! 

I think it's sad when money-junkies have taken over every institution in America.

And about those loan rates:

"Work resumes after student loan bill fails" by Philip Elliott |  Associated Press, July 11, 2013

WASHINGTON — The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out.

I'm betting they ju$t won't be able to get it done.

Republicans and a few Democrats blocked a White House-backed proposal that would have restored 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for one more year. The failed stopgap measure was designed to give lawmakers time to take up comprehensive college affordability legislation and dodge 6.8 percent interest rates on new loans.

Kids, don't you wish the would STOP IT with the GAMES? 

Of course, if this were what Israel, corporations, or Wall Street wanted it would sail through with huge margins in a display of bipartisanship.

Without congressional action in the coming weeks, the increase could mean an additional $2,600 for an average student returning to campus this fall, according to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

Wait until you see where it is going, kids.

‘‘Let’s just extend this for one year. I don’t think that’s too much to ask,’’ said Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

It proved too much for a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia. They favored a compromise now and joined with Republicans in using a procedural roadblock to stop the one-year patch.

WHAAAAAAAAAAT???!!!!

‘‘This plan merely kicks the can down the road for 12 more months,’’ said Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, who worked with Manchin and Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, on a deal that linked interest rates to financial markets.

The Senate vote was 51 to 49, nine votes short of the 60 votes needed to move forward.

The Republican-favored plan that Manchin helped to write was not considered for a vote in the Senate.

There is your biparti$anship!

But that proposal was the subject of an evening session among leaders from both parties about next steps.

Without serious negotiations between the parties and without an agreement within a fractured Democratic caucus, students would face higher costs when they begin repaying their loans after graduation. Lawmakers pledged to return to negotiations to avert that, and aides were gauging what was possible given the narrow window before Congress breaks again for the August recess.

I'm so glad they waited until the last minute to fill out your aid forms, kids.

‘‘Today our nation’s students once again wait in vain for relief,’’ said Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico. ‘‘They expected more of us, and I share their disappointment.’’

He might want to watch what he says.

The failure to win a one-year approval, combined with little interest in such a deal in the Republican-led House, meant that unless Congress tries again, students could be borrowing money for fall courses at a rate leaders in both parties called unacceptably high.

You know, you just got an ejerkashun in U$URY, kids!

Officials said Wednesday’s vote would not be the final word on student loans and that it would nudge members from both parties back to the negotiating table.

Harkin, for instance, said he was not wedded to 3.4 percent interest rates forever and was open to a different approach, as long as profits from student lending weren’t used as a way to pay down the nation’s deficit.

Kids?! Kids!!

A Harkin ally said compromise is possible if Republicans are willing to yield as well.

‘‘I will continue to work hard to reverse this senseless rate hike,’’ said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, who helped push extension measures. ‘‘Ultimately, we’ll need a bipartisan solution, but first Congress will have to do its homework. Republicans will have to come to the table and agree to address the bigger picture of college affordability in a meaningful and comprehensive way.’’

The administration said the vote would not inevitably consign students to higher rates.

‘‘I wish we would have got this done before July 1, but I remain very optimistic that we’re going to get to a better place for students,’’ Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

‘‘We’re going to get it done sooner than later,’’ he said.

Interest rates on student loans doubled to 6.8 percent July 1 because Congress didn’t act. After Wednesday’s vote, the political sparring continued.

‘‘Today’s vote is just another example of how out of touch Republicans in Congress are with the struggles of everyday American families,’’ said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.

The whole place is out-of-touch, Patty! It's a corporate government, if you under$tand what I mean.

Representative John Kline, chairman of the House education panel, blamed Democrats.

‘‘Right now, millions of students trying to prepare for college and apply for financial aid are facing higher interest rates — all because a cadre of Senate Democrats is completely unwilling to compromise,’’ said Kline.

The rate increase does not affect many students right away. Loan documents generally are signed just before students return to campus. Existing loans were not affected, either.

During last year’s presidential campaign, lawmakers from both parties voted to keep interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent. Yet this year, the issue seemed to fizzle and the July 1 deadline passed without action.

Yeah, because Democrats wrote the law to specifically expire in 2012 so they would have a campaign cudgel (they thought) to wave at Republicans and win the declining youth vote.  Couldn't give you the bank rate or the Fed rate or anything. 

Couldn't lock in a decent rate (why not just pay for it like Europe rather than loans, sigh?)?

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I know I'm expecting too much because this $y$tem has been so corrupted by money it now exists only to send loot to the top. Everyone $ees it now.

"$22b cost poses hurdle for student loan proposal; Lawmakers still seeking way to keep rates down" by Philip Elliott |  Associated Press, July 12, 2013

WASHINGTON — An emerging deal to lower interest rates on student loans hit a major obstacle Thursday after lawmakers were told it carried a $22 billion price tag over the next decade.

The proposal was designed to offer Democrats the promise that interest rates would not reach 10 percent and to give Republicans a link between borrowing terms and the financial markets that they sought.

Obama is in favor of the Repuglican position.

But at that cost, the bipartisan coalition behind it decided to push pause and return to negotiations to bring that cost down.

The estimate was described by a congressional aide involved in the negotiations. The aide was not authorized to discuss the proposal by name and insisted on anonymity because the Congressional Budget Office report had not yet been widely released.

Who leaked this?

The unexpected cost estimate was unlikely to end talks among lawmakers about how they might reduce rates on subsidized Stafford loans, which doubled to 6.8 percent last week following congressional inaction.

Efforts to restore those rates to 3.4 percent were abandoned in favor of a new compromise that bears many similarities to a bill that House Republicans have passed, and with President Obama’s budget proposal. 

It sure is an education learning that Obama has sold in with the bankers, 'eh, kids? And you thought he was your friend.

‘‘There is no question that there is a compromise available on this important issue and that the sides have not been that far apart and we just need to get it done,’’ White House spokesman Jay Carney said before the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate.

‘‘We have been working with lawmakers to make that compromise happen. We need to make sure that students don’t see their rates double,’’ he said.

They could go even higher!

Under the plan lawmakers were considering, interest rates on new loans would be based on the 10-year Treasury note, plus an additional percentage to pay for administrative costs. The proposal includes a limit on how high rates could climb, a demand Democrats said was a deal-breaker.

??

That provision proved unexpectedly costly and, for the moment, proved problematic for negotiators.

Undergraduate students would have seen better terms than the current 6.8 percent rate but could have faced higher costs if the economy improves and Treasury notes become more expensive.

Well, that is not looking likely, but borrow more money for a worthless degree for a job that doesn't exist.

Rates for students this fall would have been around 4 percent and would have been capped at 8.25 percent in future years.

Graduate students and parents could have found better deals next year but again would have faced higher rates than the current 7.9 percent. Borrowing for those PLUS loans would have been around 6 percent this fall and capped at 9.25 percent in coming years.

How is that a "better deal?"

Serious work on a compromise came just hours after Democratic-led efforts to restore the 3.4 percent interest rates failed once more to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate.

I think they are designed failures so the political s***-fooley can be thrown around to distract and divide, that's what I think. It's all across the ma$$ media $pectrum these days.

After several failures to find a stopgap measure, Democrats abandoned that tactic and instead looked for a way to lower rates for students before their return to campus this fall.

Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan met with lawmakers Tuesday night to discuss possible options, including the market-based approach Obama included in his budget outline.

That's the House Republican approach. 

Democrats insisted they try one last time to restore the 3.4 percent rate.

After that failed, lawmakers turned to a compromise approach and met Wednesday in the office of Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, to discuss the next steps. White House education and budget advisers joined those conversations and helped guide lawmakers to the proposal under consideration.

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Nothing about the $51 BILLION a YEAR the government is making off kids so they can pay down the debt! 

That is why NOTHING IS BEING DONE, kids, and why you are being presented this game of shit political fooleys! 

Congress and the mouthpiece media both get an "F" from me! 

UPDATE: US Student Loan Debt Crisis – New student loan bill to benefit the government