Breaking the Small Business Code

Cutting College Costs - A Fable that is not so Fictional

    As the financial markets and tax revenues tumble, states like California are making steep cuts to education including cuts to the support for state-run colleges like the University of California (UC) and the California State Universities (CSU). The budget that will be signed today imposes a 10 percent across-the-board cut to the UCs and CSUs, saving $264.4 million.

    California is not alone. Massachussetts is planning 11.6 percent in cuts for their state colleges. Florida is starting at 4 percent but more cuts are planned. New York state is cutting between 6 and 7 percent. Google the phrase "xxx budget cuts to colleges" and insert your state for xxx and you'll see what you are facing.

    This means college administrators will soon be living the fable presented by John Lombardi of Louisiana State University at his blog "Reality Check" called "Budget Crisis, Academic Change:A Fable"!

    I STRONGLY recommend that everyone who cares about higher education - both inside and outside the education "industry" - read Lombardi's blog.  How you react to the story will help you understand why there is no clear path to making colleges more accountable and affordable!  Politics, political correctness, turf wars, protectionism, etc., etc., keeps the colleges stuck where they are. 

    What do you think is going to be cut by the all these colleges?  What do you think should be done? What sacrifices/changes can be made?  One thing for sure, aid will go down, class size will go up, space for new students will go down, services will go down, and tuition will go up!

   As the daughter of a college dean, I understand the desire to protect and provide resources that serve more intangible needs like obscure languages, art and music. But when your children are starving, having a Monet on the wall is probably NOT the best use of your resources.

    This brings me back to my question to the social media universe - "What is College For"?  What should we focus on in these times? What should money be spent on?

   

  

Student Learning Outcomes and the Univ of California

       

      In today's Inside Higher Education News is a great summary article on proposed accountability plans for University of California.  The new system President Mark Yudof presented a draft of his suggestions to the Board of Regents over this past (September 20, 2008) weekend.

     Good news, is the proposal was a framework to pull together all the things the member campuses already measure but are scattered and difficult to find.  Bad news is the Regents are still fighting measuring student learning outcomes.  I appreciate their reluctance but . . .

     My issue is whether or not measuring things like faculty performance, finances and research output are really indicators of STUDENT learning!

      My main concern is that the UC system still does not participate in the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) which is designed to provide transparency on things like educational outcome.  The UC system does not participate in the VSA because of their suggestion to use one of three national tests measuring student learning.  The UC faculty states that such testing “usurps the role of campus and departmental faculty in assessing student learning”.

      I appreciate that no one likes being measured based on the success of another person.  Plus I know that learning is made up of many pieces that a college cannot control including preparation from high school and individual student motivation.  BUT I think there needs to be an independent measurement that is NOT controlled by the people who are being measured!

     I am the daughter of a college dean so I understand the need for research and scholarship by colleges. The problem for UC faculty is the  "product"  families are paying for is learning outcome.  Measuring how much the UC schools spend or how many grants and publications the faculty has in research is probably not something important to parents and students.   

   

WHAT DO YOU THINK?