June 27, 2011
Sticker Price is Up, but Net Price is Down
According to a new report on Net Price by the College Board, tuition and fees, adjusted for inflation and offset by federal grants and tax benefits, are actually lower than they were five years ago. Although tuition and fees rose steadily over the past five years, grants and financial aid outpaced this growth, leading to…
June 23, 2011
Are Public U Presidents Paying a Price for Seeking Change?
Recent news has some wondering whether unsuccessful attempts by some public flagship institutions to obtain greater autonomy from the state, and in some cases from a larger university system, have led to negative consequences for the university presidents pushing for the reforms. Having been strongly criticized by University of Wisconsin system officials and Chancellors for…
June 17, 2011
Projected 2011-13 State Revenue Takes a Dive
Yesterday, the Washington State Economic Revenue and Forecast Council released a troubling update for 2011-13 state general fund revenue. Overall, the over $730 million dollars held in reserve in the recently signed budget is now projected to be only $163 million. If this trend continues, mid-year and supplemental session cuts may be likely. Please see…
June 16, 2011
Improved Educational Efficiency at Higher Ed Institutions
A new State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) report indicates that institutions of higher education have increased their educational efficiency by decreasing their staff-to-student ratio since 2001. Using three IPEDS data surveys—the Fall Staff survey, 12-month Enrollment survey, and Institutional Characteristics survey—it was calculated that, although both enrollment and staffing have increased between 2001 and…
June 14, 2011
Harkin Holds What Could be Last Senate Hearing on For-Profits
Days after the Department of Education released its finalized Gainful Employment rule, Senator Tom Harkin held his fifth Senate hearing investigating the practices of the for-profit higher education industry. Senator Harkin focused the hearing on the high levels of student borrowing and outsized loan default rates for students at for-profit institutions. Previous hearings and reports…
Department of Ed Finalizes (and Softens) Gainful Employment Rule
After much debate, public comment, intense lobbying, a lawsuit, and the threat of political action to block them, expansive new US Department of Education higher education regulations are set to go into effect on July 1st. While the Department has made revisions to and provided implementation guidance for most of the new rules, it had…
June 9, 2011
Improved Job Prospects For Recent College Graduates
As the New York Times reported in late May, hiring of recent college graduates is up five percent from last spring—encouraging news for UW students graduating in a few days’ time. The Seattle Times confirmed that this trend is followed in Washington State as well, with the unemployment rate falling from 9.2 percent in April…
June 3, 2011
Importance of Need-Based Aid for Achieving Attainment Goals
A recent Pell Institute Report proposed a new way to think about reaching President Obama’s goal of increasing the proportion of adults with a college degree to 60 percent by 2020. The Institute suggests that income inequality creates a two-tier educational system in which 25-34 year-olds in the top half of the income distribution have…
May 26, 2011
Pew Survey of College Presidents Highlights Divergent Views from General Public
Along with its survey of the general public, the Pew Center recently published a survey of 1,055 two- and four-year, public, private and for-profit college presidents, concerning the quality, accessibility, and affordability of higher education. The two surveys were conducted around the same time and asked similar questions. However, there were notable differences between the…
May 25, 2011
No Surprises in (Nearly) Final State Operating & Capital Budgets
While the House and Senate have yet to finish sine die today, both capital and operating budgets are close to final. The UW’s operating budget cut is $207 million over the biennium. UW’s cuts are comprised of “higher education reductions” and a mandatory 3 percent, general fund state compensation reduction ($12 million per year). Compensation reductions,…