3:47 p.m. - In a recent report, North Dakota leads the way for accountablity in higher education among institutions and policymakers, but changes are needed across the United States.

Accountability for Better Results, a report of the National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education, was released Thursday. The report, a guideline for accountability in higher education among lawmakers, institutions, faculty, students and business leaders, claims major changes have to be made for the United States to continue competing in the global economy.

The commission was created by the State Higher Education Executive Officers, a nonprofit nationwide organization of postsecondary state education leaders, to address accountability issues in higher education. Out of 15 members, Sen. Dave Nething, R-Jamestown, was one of only three legislators on the committee.

Paul Lingenfelter, executive director of SHEEO and the person who selected the commission members, said he was drawn to North Dakota because of its roundtable approach to accountability in higher education and Nething's involvement with that process.

"We are years ahead of other folks for accountability measurements," Nething said. "We traded legislators' flexibility for accountability in schools to try new things."

North Dakota and South Dakota each hold annual statewide roundtable meetings including legislators and community leaders with school board members and administrative leaders.

Nething said one of the key things that needs to be improved in North Dakota is funding each institution appropriately.

The amount students have to pay for higher education has increased faster than the consumer price index. State support and federal programs like the Pell Grants are increasingly falling behind enrollment demand and inflation. This year alone the Pell Grant has a $4.3 billion shortfall. If approved, President Bush's 2006 fiscal budget would increase money allocated for the Pell Grant to $13.7 billion and raise the maximum by $100 to $4,150 for the neediest students.

"People are willing to pay a lot for quality education," Lingenfelter said. "There is less pressure on institutions to change their costs because there are people banging down the doors to get in."

Currently, four out of 10 students in colleges and universities fail to graduate within six years, with one of those four still enrolled.

Today, more than 16 million students -- about 5.5 percent of the U.S. population -- are enrolled in higher education. According to the National Center for Higher Education, for every 100 freshmen, only 68 percent will graduate from high school on time and only 18 percent will achieve a degree within six years after enrolling in college.

"Even if half of the ninth-graders that say they want to go to college were successful and graduated, that would be a significant increase in higher education," Lingenfelter said.

Other major areas of concern from the report were the gap between low-income and minorities enrolled and finishing college compared to wealthier white students and the outsourcing of scientists and engineers to other countries competing in the global economy.

(Reach reporter Kayla Cogdill at 250-8251 or kaylacogdill@bismarcktribune.net.)