Posts published in July, 2011
Texas Examines Increasing College Efficiency
Third-parties look to improve efficiency, outcomes at Texas publics
“Conservative” groups, such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation and America’s Next Impact, as well as more “bipartisan” ones, such as the Texas Coalition for Excellence in Higher Education, are becoming increasingly involved in making recommendations to the Texas public univerRsity system regarding its spending and student outcomes. Don Hale, a University of Texas spokesman, responded to these groups, stating that the university is “committed to managing its resources wisely and efficiently.”
nytimes.com
College Board Cost Study Adds To Pressure For More Productivity
The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center has released a new policy brief, Trends in Community College Education: Enrollment, Prices, Student Aid, and Debt Levels, authored by Sandy Baum, independent policy analyst to the College Board; Kathleen Little, senior adviser, student aid policy at the College Board; and Kathleen Payea, policy analyst at the College Board.
Download Trends in Community College Education: Enrollment, Prices, Student Aid, and Debt Levels. Requires Adobe Reader.
Community colleges serve as the access point to higher education for many students. With lower published prices, less stringent admission requirements and geographical proximity to more students than most institutions in other sectors, community colleges provide opportunities for education and training that would otherwise be unavailable to many. As the need increases for workers with some postsecondary education, but not necessarily a four-year degree, the demands on community colleges are growing.
Relying on data from the College Board reports Trends in Student Aid 2010 and Trends in College Pricing 2010, as well as from the Department of Education and other sources, the authors describe the published prices of community colleges and the other expenses students face while enrolled and how these prices vary across states. They also examine institutional revenue sources, the financial aid community college students receive, student debt and degree completion patterns at two-year public colleges.
Increasing College Productivity: A Continuing Puzzle
Are Productivity Gains in Higher Education Possible?
Andrew Kelly, The American
Yes, but not until institutions are provided with incentive to pursue them.Here’s a puzzle: leaders are calling on colleges and universities to produce more degrees, but cash-strapped states are cutting higher education spending. What’s the solution? Be careful how you answer-this question has become the most prominent fissure in contemporary debates about higher education reform.
For Another View see “The (Un)Productivity of American Higher Education: From “Cost Disease” to Cost-Effectiveness,” a recent working paper by WISCAPE Senior Scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab and WISCAPE Faculty Affiliate Douglas Harris
Universities Outsource Instructors Via Virtual Classrooms
Here is another view concerning on line education as a follow up to the prior post :
Instructional outsourcing using e-learning platforms is becoming increasingly popular at college and university campuses across the country. Daniel Hurley, Director of State Relations and Policy Analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, comments, “Given the significant reduction in state support for public education, compounded by the fact institutions need to maintain quality programs, we are going to see additional innovative attempts at partnerships that will address both issues of being able to provide cost-efficient programs that are high quality.”
usatoday.com
Hybrid College Courses Help Fill Gap
By Nicole Jewell : Guest Blogger
Online schooling has recently proven quite popular and with good cause. Many older students, stay-at-home mothers and full-time employees whose work hours cannot be adjusted to traditional school schedules, now have a higher education at their fingertips.
Some still ridicule non-traditional learning as being inferior or ‘not real’ because a proper classroom was never sat in under the direct supervision of an instructor. But does the act of sitting at a desk in class with fellow students make an education genuine, or is it the amount of work a student puts into it?
A recent trend within post-secondary arena is a ‘hybrid education’, which combines regular online engagement with traditional classroom instruction. Many community colleges, universities and technical schools are now splitting their course work over the Internet and the brick and mortar classroom.
Any questions as to the validity of the degree being awarded are dispelled by the typically once a week classroom attendance, with the remainder of homework, discussion and message board work still being dealt with at home or office on the computer.
Not everyone is as self-disciplined to manage all learning aspects outside of a physical classroom without, so the in-class time serves as a touch-base for those who need to fix their eyes on a real-life instructor, rather than a computer screen and keyboard.
Accreditation Is Key
One may wonder why online schools have such a poor reputation. It most likely stems from the fact that a decade ago, an online degree could simply be bought at the right price, without having to do any legitimate work to earn it. Although this practice is also not unheard of in traditional schools, it is much harder to verify. Most online schools, from technical and community colleges to universities, have undergone thorough strict and intense scrutiny to obtain and maintain their accredited status.
These accreditations are a huge endorsement of quality – meaning that the school is recognized by one of six regional accreditors and therefore approved by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education – the same organizations who accredit brick and mortar schools. Naturally, such claims of validation should be verified by the prospective students and not taken on faith alone.
Each of the six regional agencies is responsible for their respective states and counties. All students need to do to check that their online school is accredited, is to follow-up this assertion with the relevant agency that services their county and state where the school is located.
If the online school is justly accredited, the distance learning degree is every bit as valid as one that comes from an institution where it’s necessary to sit and raise your hand.
Despite the strides made to accredit schools in the online sphere, there is still a stigma which suggests that online degrees are inferior to those completed in a traditional classroom.
In light of this, perhaps a hybrid education kills too birds with one stone. In the short term, it will provide students with greater scheduling flexibility, while its classroom component inspires confidence that this degree will be valued in the job market. In the long run, the hybrid education model will help to ensure that the value of an online education doesn’t get swept under the rug and dismissed as inferior.
An emerging term in university catalogs is that a course is ‘web-enhanced’ – indicating a hybrid style of learning. But not all classes touted as web-enhanced are set in that structure. For some, it means that all classes are held on campus and web-based learning is only a complementary added value. As the definition can vary from institution to institution, students should verify that nature of the class before signing up – discovering scheduling conflicts later on will be unforgiving.
By and large, the majority of the workload is web-enhanced and can even be completed in the computer lab of the attended school. While hybrid courses are not ‘learn-at-your-own-pace’, they allow for a little more structural leg room that can really complement the learning process. This kind of distance learning allows for further flexibility and convenience, while allowing students the milestone of weekly attendance in a non-virtual classroom setting.
The High Points
A hybrid education boasts several perks that a strictly online school does not. One of its biggest advantages is the ability to enjoy student organizations, clubs, teams, and a little campus life. Students can still enjoy the communal feeling and shared history of the institution. By meeting other students in person, even once a week, it’s easier to develop a sense of camaraderie, have an interactive student life and meet new people who are in your immediate area and not thousands of miles away (as can be the case with a strictly online education).
Less time spent and gas consumed by fewer commutes to school can also be considered a bonus. Online institutions also offer these benefits, as well as having more time to work on assignments.
A hybrid education can be that special blend so many are looking for. It does allow for the best of both worlds with less con and more pro. It’s especially convenient if the school you’re interested in is nearby and you have that extra spare time necessary for a commute. It can also prove to be less of a financial burden, since so many online schools charge for their round-the-clock convenience.
Nicole Jewell is a writer for the education blog at TeacherCertification.org. She can be reached at njewell(@)ethingsonline(.)com
Community College Tuition Rising Significantly
By Neil Gonzales/Oakland Tribune
Graduating from a community college – traditionally the only affordable avenue available for underprivileged students seeking higher education – is increasingly becoming out of reach for many students because of rising tuition, according to a new study. The findings by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a San Jose-based nonprofit, come as the state has increased the community college enrollment fee from $26 to $36 per unit effective this fall semester. “Yes, community college is getting harder and harder to afford,” said Kathy Blackwood, chief financial officer for the San Mateo County Community College District, adding that the fee could go up to $46 per unit in the spring if the projected revenues in the new state budget don’t materialize. (more…
Praise For USA Ed Department College Cost Calculator
By Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute/EPI Internationa
In the late 1990s, I worked for the College Board and co-directed the Trends in Student Aid and Trends in College Pricing reports. These reports, to this day, provide educators, researchers, and policymakers with a summary of how much college and university is and what available aid, from the institutional, private, state, and federal levels exists to help students pay tuition, fees, and other assorted costs.
Back 25 years ago, the College Board listed the most expensive and least expensive colleges in America. It stopped doing so when Board membership suggested it wasn’t a very good idea to identify your membership as the most expensive in the nation.
Of course, a lot has changed since that time. Now, colleges and universities live, in part, by the Chivas Regal effect. That is, the more expensive they are, the higher their perceived value and ROI. They simply “must” be better. We know this isn’t even close to true, but people believe it. We make similar assumptions when we book hotels, buy cars, and even pay for restaurant meals. It must be better.
In the late 1990s, I had asked that we, the College Board, do it again. I thought it was important that people knew what was what. Unfortunately, my request was summarily denied: you can’t showcase “bad” information about the member colleges. I thought it was crap then; crap now.
However, this week, the US Department of Education unveiled the College Affordability and Transparency Center which does exactly what the Board used to do and what I proposed back in 1999. The site allows you to chose, by sector, the most expensive, least expensive, and lowest and highest net price (price minus all gift aid, on average) institutions in the United States.
The purpose of the tool is to allow students, parents, and others to look at the various prices of institutions around the US. Understand this: it does not tell us anything about institutional quality, perceived or otherwise. It does not tell us about ROI on the investment of a college education (as measured by average salaries and employability of graduates). That needs to happen next.
The utility of this tool is limited, but serves to provide additional transparency on the rubic’s cube of higher education. Good work, ED.
