Higher Education Financing

Happy New Year All!

Here's a new report from the Delta Cost Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability that looks at trends in higher ed spending--where it comes from and where its going. Not surprisingly, tuition and costs are on the rise, but decreasing proportions of that money are going to classroom instruction. Some of it is offsetting reductions in state appropriations, some is going towards academic support, student services, and maintenance. Definitely worth a read! (Harrison, one of our visitors from last semester recommended checking out the Delta Cost Project work)...

http://www.deltacostproject.org/analyses/

Data like this and growing economic peril seems to indicate an untenable long-term situation...

'Reading First' article

I thought it would be nice to get some commentary going about the 'Reading First' evaluation article Uri emailed out. A quick summary for those who haven't read it: Reading First is a program focused on enhancing students decoding skills but, of course, also hoping to improve reading comprehension. Turns out it succeeded in the former but not in the latter. The article makes the point that perhaps rather than cut funding for this program it should instead now enhance funding so the program can be improved and continued. Basically, now, some are claiming the $40 million evaluation process was flawed. (The program only received $6 billion in funding.)

Evaluations and funding always get to me. I understand the need for empirical evidence, but someone is always going to claim that the study was inaccurate and doesn't portray the true results. It's more frustrating that when programs don't perform as they're expected to (or do in this case by improving decoding skills...but not enough improvement in reading comprehension) that at this point people often choose to stop funding altogether rather than to reform the effort. So, we have to start all over again. I think it makes sense to say...Reading First worked in this aspect, i.e. decoding, and not in this one, i.e. reading comprehension. How can we build onto the current program to improve students reading comprehension? 

How California Universities Will Deal With Budget Cuts

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/education/19college.html?ref=us

Rhee vs. AFT

For those of you who follow the D.C. school system's reform efforts by Rhee and Mayor Fenty, this is an article foreshadowing what will shape up to be a fabulous battle. Personally, I have to say that I admire Rhee and the efforts she is making to bring to light tenure and the unintended consequence of rewarding bad teaching.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111701581.html?sub=AR

Reasons why students take remedial classes

Doing some research for our client I came across this research piece that describes a few reasons why students take remedial courses. While usually we focus on administrative weaknesses, oftentimes we neglect student attitudes that are developed across time.

They did not take high school seriously.
•They purposely did not take challenging classes.
•Their major reason for going to school was to socialize.
•They were not motivated in high school.
•They did not think that college was in their future.
•They took an “I don’t care” attitude beginning in about tenth grade.
•They would like to help other students avoid their mistakes.

So another challenge to college readiness is who is responsible for addressing these issues and to what extent?

If you are interested in reading more check this out:
http://ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h&AN=9175148&site=ehost-live

Positive suggestions for increasing degree completion

I think we can all agree we know a lot of the problems associated with American higher education, but rarely do I read truly creative solutions other than "we need more money from the government!" or "higher education institutions need to be more accountable for their outcomes!"  This comment from a recent Inside Higher Ed article is inspiring!

Community College and Budget Cuts

"How do you deal with a declining revenue base and more and more students wanting to come?"

There is an interesting in the NY Times yesterday about the rising demand for community college in New York.  Large increases in demand are likely the result of a flagging economy, given the counter-cyclical nature of higher ed.  But NY, like most states, is having to undergo severe budget cuts.  Seem like a poor time to raise tuition or turn vulnerable populations away from higher ed.  Might be a good time for the feds to shore up funding.

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/nyregion/11cuny.html?ref=education

Looks like we may have to wait

I was sort of expecting it, but this article makes a good case as to why Obama's Administration is not going to tackle major Ed reform anytime soon.

Obama Is Expected to Put Education Overhaul on Back Burner (WSJ)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636225053515663.html

I certainly hope that isn't the case, though I logically know it likely will be. Thoughts? Hope? :)