Higher Ed Reform

"Most Americans have barely noticed a trend that gravely threatens our future. Step by step, public higher education is disappearing across our nation."

"In Oklahoma, the share of the cost of university budgets being paid by students and their families has doubled while the state's share has fallen rapidly. When I first came back to OU to be president, the state provided 32 percent of the university budget. Now the state provides 15 percent and the support is falling. The OU Medical School receives less than 7 percent of its budget from the state. State appropriations for higher education in Oklahoma are now $100 million lower than in 2008."

I love the comment where someone says "there's a lot of UNNECESSARY education out there."  Am I the only one who sees how dangerous this attitude is?

This, by Congresswoman Karen Bass, who introduced The Student Fainess Act, is also worth considering:

"Bass says the bill is not an overall fix, but it's a necessary step.

'There are a lot of problems that we're facing in our country. We really need to rethink how higher education is paid for — period. But until then, we really shouldn't pass this debt on to future generations,' she says.

Moreover, she says, investing in education is essential for staying competitive with other countries."

"State universities began during the Civil War when the transcontinental railroads were planned. The railroads were financed by granting land to developers and states, since the railroads would increase the value of the lands. Land-grant universities began then and flourished for a century. In recent years, however, states have found that running a good university system was becoming burdensome, and they have reduced their support of them. States now furnish only about 15 percent of the total costs of state universities.

State universities have become private universities, in fact if not in name. In order to finance themselves, they charge tuition like other private universities. The tuition for state universities is lower than for other universities because of state aid, but they are still substantial. Poor students need to borrow to pay for their education as a result."

Another benefit related to having a college degree?

There really is nothing new under the sun!

"Problems emerged. Familiar problems. The completion rates in radio courses were low. Students found the lack of social interaction frustrating. There was also the troublesome matter of academic credit. Some students received mere “certificates of completion” when they successfully completed an air college course and colleges and employers often didn’t know what to do with such things. Other colleges eventually did offer credit toward a degree for radio courses—according to the Chronicle, “between 1923 and 1940, 13 institutions offered courses for credit, and nearly 10,000 students enrolled”—but it didn’t work out so well. Only 17 percent of people who signed up ever earned credit.

Could this happen in higher ed?  And, if so, what will the results be when employers are already saying that students lack critical thinking skills?

I need a new Scoop-It about language, but for now, this will live here.