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"Californians Worry About Support for Higher Ed As California's public colleges and universities have faced severe budget shortfalls, many state residents have been slow to see a problem, but that may be changing. A statewide survey released by the Public Policy Institute of California found increases in the percentage of Californians who appear to see real problems. Among California residents, 74 percent of residents say the state does not provide enough money for colleges and universities, up 17 points from 57 percent in October 2007. Most Californians (68 percent) believe that spending for public higher education should be given a high or very high priority - up from 54 percent in November 2008, And 57 percent favor spending more on higher education, even at the expense of other programs."

"American academic leaders are casting a wary eye on developments in higher education in the rest of the world. Will the Bologna Process give Europe an edge? Will the development of research universities in countries outside the West stop the best talent from coming to the United States? What does it mean when American colleges and universities open up campuses thousands of miles away from their home base? Ben Wildavsky argues that these and many other changes are indeed significant and are bringing about a "globalization" of higher education. But while some observers fear these developments could hurt American higher education, Wildavsky argues that the changes have the potential to be a win-win for all involved (and that these and other forms of globalization are now inevitable). He makes his case in a new book, The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World (Princeton University Press). Wildavsky, a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, answered questions about the themes of the book."

A think piece by CSU Northridge Provost Harry Hellenbrand about how to think about change.

"Apparently, there's a company that employs people in India with graduate degrees to grade papers for American professors. For twelve bucks a paper, they'll give not just a letter grade, but comments. The idea is to free up faculty to focus on instruction (or, more accurately, research), rather than grading. It also saves the university money, since outsourcing the grading allows you to run classes at much larger sizes. From the comments to the article, you'd think that this had never been done before. You'd think that professors have always done their own grading, and that the grading was a form of deep examination of each student's soul, resulting in unparalleled insight and bonding. Um, no. And I have the scantron invoice to prove it."

"A Bottom-Line Approach That Looks Beyond the Bottom Line For several years, a cadre of some of the savviest executives in higher education have been practically begging university administrators and trustees for the chance to advise them on a "strategic finance" approach to restructuring and planning. Until recently, they had a tough time getting college leaders even to set aside the time for a presentation on the topic-a free one at that. When you're preoccupied with the immediate demands for budget slashing, or perhaps still hoping that the state cutbacks and declines in donations are just another cyclical bump in the road, it is certainly understandable that you might duck a major reconsideration of the university's very financing model and mission. But with stimulus money drying up and signs of a full recovery still distant, the case for thoughtful reinvention becomes more compelling. Ellen Earle Chaffee, a former college president who heads up a Lumina Foundation for Education-backed project on strategic finance for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, says she is seeing more colleges "facing the monster" of their financial challenges. "People understand that we all need to get a grip here and figure out what we're going to do," Ms. Chaffee says. She spoke from her home in North Dakota last week, fresh from a meeting of college trustees where several more boards had signed up for the workshop. Simply put, strategic finance is an approach to planning and budgeting that involves rigorously identifying the full expenses of programs to gain a complete picture of their costs-including indirect costs (like utilities and marketing) that are rarely quantified to that scale. With that information, an institution or system can better identify where costs might be out of line and where to invest to take advantage of new opportunities, untapped demand, and, in the best tradition of the academic mission, societal need. Large public i

College tuitions are rising. Seat space-especially in community colleges-is often scarce. University endowments are shrinking. State institutions are facing enormous cuts in state funding. While colleges have fewer resources, they are admitting students who present greater challenges. Increasing numbers of students arrive on campus without the preparation to do college-level work. An estimated 42 percent of students at public two-year institutions and 28 percent of all students nationally take at least one remedial class. Yet at too many universities, classes are taught in much the same way as they were 50-or even 500-years ago. Students crowd into lecture halls to hear long uninterrupted lectures. Later, they discuss the course material in smaller sections taught by faculty or graduate assistants. Some institutions, however, are finding new ways to teach all students. A new Education Sector report, The Course of Innovation: Using Technology to Transform Higher Education, highlights the ways that colleges and universities are using technology to simultaneously improve student learning and reduce skyrocketing higher education costs.

"As scholars, we are always involved in one project or another. Whether it is a funded grant project, a writing project, development (as in web/game/interactive/software/etc), or even curriculum/teaching work, it often becomes quite a challenge to manage things (especially if many collaborators are involved). In situations such as these, many of us turn to tools that can keep our projects well managed and under control-some tools are online, some desktop, some tools are open source, and some are proprietary. All are different, with strengths and weaknesses which will ultimately determine their value to your particular scholarly project. Among the vast cornucopia of collaboratively inclined options, I would like to suggest that people have a look at Open Atrium. The brainchild of Development Seed, Open Atrium is essentially an intranet in a box. It allows for the creation of group/project spaces in which users can have conversations, preserve knowledge, track progress, and share files."

"For-profit colleges are facing increasingly stiff online competition from regional public universities. Those revenue-hungry campuses are using the degree programs to attract both local students and those hailing from beyond state and national borders. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell got into the game early, with deep distance-education programs that the university began 13 years ago. A more recent entrant is the State University of New York's Delhi campus, which has a new online nursing program that is competing with for-profits. Both universities are attracting students who might have gone to, or were attending, online programs at for-profit colleges."

"Half of Money Lent to Students at For-Profits Will End Up in Default, Government Predicts December 22, 2010, 1:09 pm The U.S. Education Department expects nearly half of the money lent to students attending for-profit colleges to enter default over a 20-year period, according to an estimate published on Tuesday. More broadly, the department projects that 16 percent of the dollars lent to all college students who entered repayment in 2008 will go into default. The department will use the estimates for budgetary purposes. The estimate echoes the findings of a Chronicle analysis last summer, which found that one out of five government loans that entered repayment in 1995 had gone into default, and that the default rate reached 40 percent for loans made to students at for-profit colleges."

"Colleges to Confront Deep Cutbacks In states where new governors pledge no new taxes, higher-education budgets will suffer Higher Education Faces Deep Cuts Where New Governors Pledge No New Taxes Brian E. Sandoval of Nevada, like some other newly elected Republican governors, pledged to cut spending but hold down taxes despite an enormous budget shortfall. By Eric Kelderman The budget situation in Nevada is so dire that lawmakers there could cut more than twice the amount they spent on higher education last year and still not fill the state's projected $1.2-billion shortfall. Despite the gap, which equals nearly a third of the state's spending, the incoming governor, Brian E. Sandoval, a Republican, has pledged that he will not raise taxes to put the state's budget back into the black. Mr. Sandoval is one of a dozen Republicans who were swept into governors' offices in November promising to hold the line on taxes and rein in state spending. Half of those states-Maine, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin-face shortfalls so large that they nearly equal or even surpass the entire amount the state spends on higher education."

"December 9, 2010 Key Senator Raises Concerns About Veterans Benefits Flowing to For-Profit Colleges By Kelly Field Washington After veterans and service members, for-profit colleges may be the biggest beneficiaries of the 2008 update to the GI Bill, according to a new report from the Senate education committee. In the first year the law was in effect, for-profits received $640-million, or 36 percent, of the $1.75-billion in total benefits paid by the Veterans Affairs Department, even though those institutions enroll fewer than 10 percent of all students in the United States. Sen. Tom Harkin, the committee's chairman, says those facts underscore the need for stricter federal oversight over for-profit colleges. In recent months, Mr. Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, has held a series of high-profile hearings criticizing for-profits for their high costs, aggressive recruiting tactics, and heavy dependence on taxpayer support. "I want to make sure these veterans are getting the education we promised them and that taxpayers know that their money is adequately safeguarded," he said Thursday in a conference call with reporters. But lobbyists for for-profit colleges say the disproportionate share of GI Bill benefits the institutions receive is a testament to the sector's dedication to educating service members and veterans."

August 22, 2010 A Reset for Higher Education By Joni E. Finney Many of us have seen trouble coming for a long, long, time. Did we really believe that endowment growth, state support, and tuition dollars could or would provide an unchecked revenue stream, tempered only by short downturns in the economy, followed by fairly quick recoveries? Did we really believe that we could expand administrative structures and shortchange instruction, but still maintain quality institutions? Did we think that poor completion rates and the achievement gaps between whites and minority groups could be solved only with more money? Did we honestly believe that expensive amenities and increased financial aid for upper-middle-class and wealthy students could be sustained? Of course not. To understand what needs to be done now-a "reset" in higher education-we need to first understand the changes pressuring our enterprise: deficits, demographics, and demand. States' structural deficits, or the gap that occurs when states fail to tax new types of economic activity, have been documented for years. A previously good economy permitted states to postpone those problems, but now, state leaders must revise their tax structures to generate more revenue. The most optimistic economic projections say the recession may end in 2013. Even then, states will be hard-pressed to return to the status quo in terms of appropriations. IN THE RIGHT COLUMN: Charts and Graphics on Finance BROWSE THE ALMANAC: More Statistics and State-by-State Profiles Many in higher education lament states' "disinvestment." The problem is much more complex. States have been reliable partners in financing higher education. While enrollments grew, state support also grew, by 24 percent from 2005 to 2008, followed by a decline of 1.7 percent from 2008 to 2010. At the same time, the federal government spent $6.6-billion in 2009-10 under the stimulus bill for states, an amount that increases to $23-billion once federal

"Average College Debt Rose to $24,000 in 2009 By TAMAR LEWIN Published: October 21, 2010 College seniors who graduated in 2009 had an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6 percent from 2008, according to an annual report from the Project on Student Debt. Related Comment Post a Comment in The Choice Blog The increase is similar to those of the past four years, the report said, despite the recession, probably because members of the class of 2009 took out most of their debt before the economic downturn began. "This consistent growth in debt over the last few years really adds up," said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, the research and advocacy group that operates the debt project. "It's important to remember that the experts all agree that if you're going to borrow, you should take out federal loans first, because federal student loans come with far more repayment options and borrower protections than other types of loans." "

Is College Worth the Investment? An analysis of Return on Investment (ROI)

"Students finding cheaper ways to get college degrees By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer Updated 8:49 PM Sunday, November 28, 2010 Ohio students pursuing alternative paths to obtaining degrees saved millions of dollars last year while helping colleges and universities across the state increase enrollment 3.9 percent. A study by the Ohio Board of Regents found that the number of transfer students and online enrollments significantly increased last year, with a 21 percent growth in transfers between state schools and a 25 percent increase in "distance learning" - students attending classes online or outside the traditional classroom. More than half of new students enrolled last year in Ohio - a total of 263,116 - attend community colleges and branch campuses. By transferring credits from these less expensive institutions to four-year universities, Ohio students and their families saved $20 million last year, or an average of more than $550 per student. Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, said committing to more low-cost college pathways is key to the state's strategic plan. Most local colleges saw gains in one or both types of students. "

"For-Profit Colleges on the Brink, Part 2 January 7, 2011, 11:27 am By Peter Wood For several years prior to 2010, it was boom times for for-profit colleges and universities. Their enrollments soared, their profitability went through the roof, and investors rushed to get in on a good thing. The market capitalization of the for-profit sector of higher education shot up to dizzying heights. Much of the growth was due to the efficient way in which for-profit colleges and universities signed up students for federally guaranteed student loans. As a whole, the sector didn't much concern itself with the academic preparation of its prospective students. Federal loan eligibility was the key to admission. Beginning in 2009, the Obama administration's Department of Education began to float ideas for increased regulation of the for-profits, but in spring 2010, it seemed to decide enough was enough and began an all-out regulatory assault on the pro-profit sector that continues to this day. The assault spilled over to Congress as well. On December 8, for example, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Tom Harkin (D) issued a scathing report, Benefiting Whom? For-Profit Education Companies and the Growth of Military Education Benefits, that portrayed the for-profit sector as ruthlessly exploiting federal programs intended to help veterans. The report, based on an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office, turned out to be error-ridden with virtually all of the errors prejudicial to the for-profits, but that hasn't slowed the effort to rein them in. When the regulatory assault began, analysts predicted big drops in enrollment; stock prices plummeted; and some foresaw an industry that would be driven to the wall. In my last blog I summarized what happened. How much or how little should the travails of the for-profit sector of higher education matter to those of us concerned with the general future of American scholarsh

"Examining For-Profits and Cost Structure January 10, 2011, 11:23 am By Peter Wood Is the for-profit sector of higher education worth preserving from the current onslaught of regulatory challenges coming from the Obama administration? In the first two parts of this series, I described those challenges and outlined a reason why we should resist the urge to drive the for-profit colleges and universities out of business. My answer is that we need them not for what they are now, but for what they are likely to become as the old models of not-for-profit higher education falter. In this third of four installments, I contrast the difficulty that the not-for-profit sector has with containing costs to the streamlined approach of the for-profit institutions. (1) Not-for-profit education's cost problem The "bubble" in higher education-the risk that the public will in significant numbers draw back from college because it perceives that a college education is likely not worth the investment of time and money-is a prognosis of tough times ahead for all of higher education. If the bubble bursts, however, it will be the not-for-profit sector that is hit hardest. There are several reasons for this, including the likelihood that public disaffection with mainstream higher education will mean an unwillingness on the part of legislatures and taxpayers to bail out the industry. The rhetoric of higher-education lobbying about the personal advantages of getting a college degree won't avail. Why should the public pay for a private good, especially one that increasingly looks self-indulgent and impractical for many students? Nor will the rhetoric that emphasizes that higher education spending promotes "national competitiveness" (or mutatis mutandis, prosperity in individual states) carry the political debate. Higher education promotes national or regional competitiveness when students learn internationally competitive skills, but not when they graduate in large numbers ma