Posted on 02/28/2014 6:50:24 AM PST by Academiadotorg
A team of researchers from Penn looked at the condition of higher education and came to about the same conclusion that academics usually come to when pressed to make a self-examination: Universities need more money.
“The years before 2000 saw relatively few attempts to compare states’ performance in higher education,” Joni E. Finney, Laura W. Perna and Patrick M. Callan write in their report. “The Measuring Up series of state report cards, published from 2000 to 2008, called attention to how state higher education systems stacked up against the best–‐performing states and, later, against international standards.”
“These state reports focused attention on measures of performance rather than traditional measures of higher education inputs, such as the number of books in the library, the number of faculty members with PhDs, and the institutions’ reputations and resources.”
In other words, they were grading colleges on how much money they could get and what they could do with it. The author’s footnote tells us that “Measuring Up is a biennial state‐by-‐state report card published by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education from 2000‐2008.”
“While Measuring Up informed states about their higher education performance, it didn’t identify what influenced differences in performance across states or changes over time in performance within a state,” Finney, Pema and Callan explain. “The State Review Project builds on the work of Measuring Up by showing how State policies can affect performance.”
“To better understand state performance, we used data that could be compared across states, supplemented with state‐specific data, to understand four areas of higher education performance that, together, result in a state’s higher education attainment:
“1)Preparation for postsecondary education; “2)Participation in workforce certificate or degree programs after high school; “3)Completion of workforce certificates and degrees; and, “4)Affordability.”
Notice what comes last. Their report is entitled Renewing the Promise: State Policies to Improve Higher Education. They looked at higher education in five states—Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Washington and Maryland.
Maryland is the state that impressed them the most. “Except for Maryland, none of the five States we studied have a long‐term strategy to link state appropriations, tuition, and financial aid in ways that will help achieve higher levels of educational attainment. At the
Time of our study, the de-facto finance policy in most states was ‘taking it one year at a time,’ resulting in unstable funding for higher education and unpredictable tuition levels for students and families. Historically, these states, like most others, relied on funding formulas based on student enrollment and institutional mission.”
The vast majority of college education is over rated and over priced.
When is the last time you heard anyone say they want less money?
People in hell want more ice water, too……….
My step-dad used to tell me that all of the time. I always wondered how he knew?
I want more money too. Being white, do you think I can get the government to pass any laws or even lift a finger to help me? Yeah...sure....
People need to get out and vote conservatives into university administrative positions where ever possible.
Engineering classes, and degrees....always pay off. You won’t have trouble ever....finding a job with a engineering degree.
Now, those folks with social science degrees, environmental studies, art history, French literature, anything with studies in the wording, or finance, management, economics? These folks ought to pay more for their professors...anticipate limited hiring....and note that their degree isn’t comparable to a degree in medicine or engineering.
Don’t know about other fields of academic study, but almost every research paper published in my field, psychiatry (flames from Freepers are obligatory here), ends with some summary statement that, “of course, more research [money, usually federal grants - i.e. your and my money] is needed to really sort this out.”
I think it’s an assumption —LOL!
Reagan’s head of mass transit, in testimony to Congress. Congress turned him down.
you can see this when you compare the cost of buying a volume of Dickens with the cost of a course on Dickens and the book’s a better deal: you’ll actually learn what Dickens wrote.
Actually, if Republican trustees got proactive, they could do wonders.
Really? He asked for less? That is so cool.
I thought universities were free from the evil capitalist greed that motivates the real world. /sarc
In Academia speak, “We have not been ‘fully funded’.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.