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As a result of the recent growth in homeschooling in the United States, colleges and universities have received an increasing number of applications from home-schooled students. Admissions officers have found it necessary to assess whether and how their admissions requirements should be modified to allow fair review of the credentials submitted by homeschooled students, even though, as yet, relatively few applicants are homeschooled. It is estimated that about 50% of homeschooled students attend college. Research has shown that achievement test scores of homeschooled students are high, and the Home School Legal Defense Association reports that homeschoolers tend to score above the national average on college entrance examinations. A number of college admissions departments have set specific standards by which they judge homeschooled students, with most preferring to consider student portfolios, transcripts of coursework provided by parents, and the student's Scholastic Assessment Test or ACT Assessment test scores. The Higher Education Act requires that students receiving federal financial aid obtain the recognized equivalent of a high school diploma. To comply with this, some colleges have admitted home-schooled students only if they have earned a General Education Development (GED) diploma or have passed a federally approved test. Current evidence indicates that the performance of homeschooled students in college is comparable to that of traditionally educated students. (Contains 11 references.) (SLD)

According to the latest report by the Institute of International Education, 586,323 foreign students studied in the United States in the 2002-2003 academic year. Foreign students benefit U.S. colleges and universities in many ways, including economic contributions and the value of their work as teachers and researchers, but there has been increased concern about foreign students since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The United States began establishing a student tracking system in the mid-1990s, and following the September 11 attacks, Congress authorized more than $36 million to implement and expand the tracking system. The Student and Exchange Visitors System (SEVIS) was completed to allow officials to collect information about foreign students and exchange visitors. Schools enrolling foreign students are required to report certain information about student enrollment and changes to address, name, or field of study. SEVIS has faced a number of challenges, especially because of difficulties in meeting tight deadlines for implementation. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun working to reduce the backlog in student visas and ensure that students from schools pending certification can gain entry into the United States. (SLD)

This digest offers a brief discussion about the growth of distance education in the postsecondary arena and summarizes the U.S. Department of Education's progress in evaluating current rules governing financial aid for distance learning. Department of Education statistics show that there was a 72% increase in the number of institutions offering distance education from 1995 to 1998, when 1,680 intuitions offered about 54,000 online courses enrolling 1.6 million students. Rules designed to combat fraud and abuse in education in the 1980s and early 1990s are now hampering distance education students as they limit the number of courses an institution can offer online or set strict qualifications for distance students receiving financial aid. It will be necessary to look at this aspect of financial aid and distance education. Congress has already established a Distance Education Demonstration Program to provide increased higher education through distance education, and this program will test some issues related to student aid. Program waivers and changes in program administration will also assist distance education students seeking financial aid. The new Administration has promised to work with Congress to address the issues that must be considered before crafting new student financial aid regulations. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD)

Higher education has increasingly turned to outsourcing to improve service in the face of declining resources. Outsourcing has traditionally been used to operate campus bookstores and dining services and has more recently become a legitimate option for additional campus functions, such as facilities operation, computer services, security, child care, and remedial classes. Advocates argue that the private sector provides service more efficiently and at lower cost than the public sector, which is unmotivated by profit. Critics of outsourcing point out its human resource consequences. Jobs may be shifted from the college or university to the contractor performing the outsourced function, resulting in decreased salaries or benefits. Contract staff may have less loyalty to the university than university employees. While research about outsourcing is scanty, anecdotal evidence shows that many institutions find outsourcing an effective means of reducing costs, upgrading program quality, and increasing customer satisfaction. A 1996 survey found that colleges and universities are increasingly turning to outsourcing, with more than one-half expecting to contract for more services in the coming years. Only 5.9% of colleges and universities surveyed produced all services in-house; the most popular outsourced services were food (74.3%), vending (65.3%), and bookstore operations (33.7%). (SLD)