Sep 13, 2016 09:04 AM EDT By Jane Reed, UniversityHerald Reporter

How are colleges and universities using their tax exempt status? That is a question Lauren Aronson asked. Aronson is a spokesperson for the House Ways and means Committee.

There is a move to investigate the country's universities and check on how they are using their university endowments. This initiative is a joint effort by the oversight subcommittee and the Senate Finance Committee.

Both committees will be looking at information from 56 school institutions that receive endowments that total beyond $1 Billion, according to Politico. The hearing will include the attendance of Neal McCluskey (Cato Institute), Jeff Amburgey (VP of Finance from Berea College, Kentucky), Sheila Bair (Former FDIC chair and President of Washington College, Maryland), Mark Schneider (American Institutes for Research) and Sandy Baum (Urban Institute).

Last year, a report came out that ranks schools with the highest endowments. See the list below:

• Harvard University (MA) $36,429,256,000
• Yale University (CT) $23,858,561,000
• Stanford University (CA) $21,466,006,000
• Princeton University (NJ) $20,576,361,000
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology $12,425,131,000
• Texas A&M University-College Station $10,521,034,492
• University of Michigan-Ann Arbor $9,603,919,000
• University of Pennsylvania $9,582,335,000
• Columbia University (NY) $9,223,047,000
• University of Notre Dame (IN) $8,189,096,000

This hearing is nothing new as a similar panel has been done last year. The hearing is set for Tuesday.

In other related news, United States Secretary John B. King Jr is hitting the road for a five day tour. He is leading Obama's administration to six states via a bus tour. He is making stops at some schools in Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Secretary King will discuss department initiatives alongside administration goals since President Barack Obama took office. His discussion ranges from the Race to the Top competition to the College Scorecard. The theme is "Opportunity Across America." One side of the bus has a blank mural where people can write about what "opportunity" means to them.

Want to know more about John B. King's tour? Check out the video below.

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