Posted on 03/22/2011 6:14:43 AM PDT by reaganaut1
In what amounts to a “Race to the Top” for higher education, the Obama administration is offering competitive grants and a new “tool kit” to help states increase their college completion rates.
During a news briefing Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the program, to be formally announced Tuesday by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., would include only incentives — no “sticks” — for reforms aimed at helping the administration meet its goal of adding eight million college graduates by 2020.
According to Mr. Duncan, the campaign will include a new $20 million Comprehensive Grant Program for states that carry out plans intended to increase their graduation rates.
In addition, as part of its 2012 budget, the administration has proposed the $123 million “First in the World” initiative for programs that hold down tuition, increase completion rates and move students through college faster. Last, the $50 million College Completion Incentive Grants would reward states and schools for reforms that produce more college graduates.
“We all know that the best jobs and fastest-growing firms will gravitate to countries, communities and states with a highly qualified work force,” Mr. Duncan said.
The administration will calculate each state’s expected share of the eight-million-graduate increase, taking into account their current college graduation rates. Currently, only 28 percent of young adults in Arkansas, Nevada and New Mexico have college degrees, compared with more than half in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and North Dakota.
The administration is also releasing what it calls a tool kit of strategies to help governors meet those goals, like stabilizing tuition increases, singling out adults with some college experience but no degree and making it easier for students to transfer college credits.
Although three-quarters of today’s young adults pursue some form of postsecondary education, fewer than half
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
How about this instead - work on improving the economy so that those that do graduate (on their own accord) can actually get a job that pays more than $15,000 a year?
A lot of college graduates end up flipping burgers. It just is not correct to say that everyone should go to college or that society benefits when everyone is highly educated. It’s not that simple.
The way to do this is to get gov't out of higher education. Obama's solution is to add more money to the pot. Wonderful.
“The administration goal is for every American to get at least a year of post-high-school education, and for the United States’ college graduation percentage to rank first in the world by 2020”
This is wonderful. Why not just issue every adult a diploma? Then we’d surely be “first in the world” with a college graduation percentage of 100 percent.
We need more people going to work, do apprenticeships and learning real skills not taking crap courses and piling up debt. It really is a scam.
Why not have mail in degree from Tic Toc Tech that will do them as much good as most are getting today. With this economy they will make the the best burger flippers and will only cost the postage.
For many high school graduates College represents the first time in their academic lives where they are allowed to fail. These incentives will change that.
Colleges will hand out diplomas just to get the money. They don’t care about the students getting an education. It is a business with them. We will end up with a bunch of stupid college grads, and a sheepskin will lose all value.
This is such BS! College IS available to everyone, however one must work for it! I have kids this age, keg stands and beer pong! It has become like HS part 2 unless you really have a goal.
A program to further devalue college degrees, but consistent with many other changes in higher education of the past several decades.
I am college educated. While I don’t think I’m the smartest man alive, I still believe most of my knowledge is self-taught or “real world” experience. College taught me some basics (and TRIED to liberalize me, to no avail), but looking at some of the jokers I attended with...sheesh...
Since colleges know that they’ll get the money no matter how much they increase tuition (since gov’t will loan/grant it), there’s no incentive to reduce costs.
Would not having student loans reduce who can attend college? Yes, but perhaps too many attend anyway. That said, financing can and should be available, but limited to a certain amount.
You nailed that one!
Would not having student loans reduce who can attend college? Yes, but perhaps too many attend anyway. That said, financing can and should be available, but limited to a certain amount.
First, I believe that if gov't stopped subsidizing schools, then the costs would come done. So do that first. Yes, financing should be available, and it should be available in the private sector. The free market will set limits because of the risks associated with not getting paid back if too much is borrowed.
As I see things now, kids work through the schools to get financing backed by the federal government. The schools have a vested interest in getting kids to borrow as much as they can. Hence, kids end up with a large debt and the schools get their money and remain fat.
There IS private financing available (Discover Student Loans is a big one but there are many others)...but it’s still in an environment with the artificial market forces (gov’t loans) driving up costs in the first place.
I agree with your analysis — gov’t loans driving up the prices. For some reason, I thought in 2009 the gov’t took over the financing of student loans. Thanks for pointing out my error.
How about we actually introduce CONSEQUENCES for not finishing high school. NO welfare, NO disability to get on, NO low-end government/union jobs that end up being gravy train rides.
They’ll finish high school w/o having to throw money at the problem. They don’t and they can take a job working at the local shoe store.
No student’s education has ever been enhanced by money.
They “sort-of” did. It used to be that private banks would issue loans backed by the government, then banks were also free to issue non-backed loans on their own.
Now, if you want government you HAVE to go through Sallie Mae in my understanding, but can still get a non-subsidized, non-guaranteed loan seperate from that.
I guess I was discussion college, but I generally agree with your comments. However, I would hate to have people who have a HS degree be eligible for those things and those without not be eligible. I would rather that welfare, disability and [highly paid] low end gov't jobs not be available. People should be held accountable for their actions -- stop rewarding bad behaviour, and there certainly is no need for gov't to reward good behaviour.
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