Access to College Education  As a candidate, Bush did not hesitate to assert his belief that a college education should be "affordable and accessible to every American," and that he favors a "fair shot" at access for every person "based on their potential and based on their merit."

Managing Student Cost  Bush has expressed great concern about the cost of attending college, particularly the difficulty facing students who graduate with "oppressive" loan debt. Bush generally favors expanding need-based federal student financial aid programs to enhance college affordability, but is critical of the complex and cumbersome character of the existing loan and grant programs. While the president-elect has not yet specified how he might simplify the government's approach to student aid, he has endorsed a few targeted proposals:

 The president-elect also has proposed supplementing first-year Pell Grants with an additional $1,000 if the student successfully completed advanced math and science courses while in high school.

This proposal also has sparked concern that the addition of merit-based considerations may undermine the ability of this program to serve the neediest students who are least likely to attend college.

 Bush also would increase the maximum amount of federal loan debt that the government will forgive after graduation to $17,500 for students who commit to five years of teaching in high-need K-12 schools. The current loan forgiveness cap is $5,000.

 To encourage families to save money to help pay college costs, Bush proposes to expand and provide tax incentives for the many existing savings plans. This includes tuition savings accounts, pre-paid tuition plans and certain Individual Retirement Accounts and Individual Development Accounts.

 Bush would set aside $1.5 billion over five years to initiate a "College Challenge Grant" fund to cover one-third of the cost for states to establish merit scholarship programs for college-bound students.

Funding for University Research  Bush has embraced the congressional movement, begun in 1998, to double funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) -the largest source of funds for research in health and medicine - by fiscal year 2003. Bush also favors funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), which supports a broad range of basic science research, although he has avoided endorsing the specific proposal to double the NSF budget.

Aside from NIH and the NSF, Duke's science researchers receive funding mainly from the departments of defense and energy. Bush has made no focused statements about his plans for research funding for the Department of Energy. But for the Department of Defense, the president-elect has proposed boosting funding by $20 billion over five years for research and development. However, preliminary analyses suggest that the portion of this figure likely to become available to support university research projects would only allow funding to keep pace with inflation.

A Bush spokesperson recently reiterated that the president-elect continues to oppose federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. However, Tommy Thompson, Bush's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources, which oversees federally funded stem cell research, as recently as June publicly opposed a ban on funding for this work. This issue is likely to be explored during Thompson's nomination hearing.

Tax Incentives for Charitable Donations  Bush has two primary proposals aimed at increasing private support for tax-exempt organizations, including higher education. Of particular interest to Duke is a proposal to allow the tax-free transfer of IRA savings to such organizations. Secondly, the president-elect would broaden the charitable deduction to include those who do not itemize their tax returns. However, Bush also favors the elimination of the Estate Tax, which, among other things, would eliminate the tax deduction for charitable bequests, a decision that many believe would significantly reduce these kinds of gifts.

Medical Education  The president-elect has praised teaching hospitals for their complex roles in training future doctors, providing indigent medical care and conducting health research. He supports continued federal funding of the Graduate Medical Education program, and has spoken generally about the need to mitigate the cuts in funds to teaching hospitals that resulted from the passage of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

Title IX Â During the campaign, Bush went on record as backing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits gender discrimination at schools that receive federal money. However, the president-elect's comments also seem to leave room for revisions to the law. "We should support a reasonable approach to Title IX that seeks to expand opportunities for women rather than destroy existing teams."

Math and Science Programs  Bush has stated his intention to establish a $1 billion "Math and Science Partnership Fund," part of which would be available to pay for new college and university programs aimed at strengthening teaching in these areas in grades K-12.

Support for Institutions Primarily Serving Minorities  Bush has pledged to increase federal funding for historically black colleges and universities from its current annual level of $180 million to a new high of $230 million. Similarly, Bush favors raising government support for Hispanic-serving institutions from $42 million to $80 million.

Written by Ellison Jones.