Really appreciate you bringing attention back to higher ed. When I was a professor at PSU, I taught in the 1st year program. Many students struggled with the cost of college, but also with the lack of supports around academics. Many were not prepared to do college-level work because they had never read a whole book or written more than a 5-page paper.
When students leave college, it's usually during the first 2 years. Programs designed to address academic gaps exist, but they require a college to commit funding to 100 and 200 level classes. However, these are often the classes that are taught by faculty who have little institutional support and have too many students in them. Teaching 100 students in an intro to X class, does not allow a professor to give their students the skills they'll need to do well in upper-level course work.
So yes, more funding is needed that directly goes to higher ed institutions, but that funding also needs to be used to build up a faculty and wrap-around supports that can address the academic side of college.
I particularly appreciate your policy prescriptions for community colleges -- long overdue.
But, as a former chair of the HECC and, before then, one of the architects of the Oregon Opportunity Grant program, I've come to the conclusion that our 40-40 goals, especially in regard to the 4-year college goal, have neglected to take into full account the cost to Oregon families for achieving that goal. When you add it up, over the past decade and through the next, that cost will be beyond what's feasible for most Oregonians, even with major Increases in funding for need-based financial aid.
Quick numbers for the current in-state higher ed population of Oregon students: 77,000 X $15,000 (if we could get to that average net cost) X 20 years = $23 billion. What percentage of family income does that represent over two decades? I'll have to dig deeper to come up with that number. Whatever it is, it's a bigger ask of our working families than it is of state taxpayers. Which highlights the problem you've addressed here.
But I would add another item to what's needed to address this, beyond more funds for financial aid and institutional support: Find ways to control and eventually reduce the cost of a four-year college education. Invest more in online learning and move from the residential model of a full four years on campus, where for many college students the cost of living (in housing and meals) is greater than the cost of learning, to a hybrid model of perhaps two years on campus and two years of learning online or in closer-to-home community college settings. Something has to be done to control costs beyond increasing funding to keep up with those costs.
Really appreciate you bringing attention back to higher ed. When I was a professor at PSU, I taught in the 1st year program. Many students struggled with the cost of college, but also with the lack of supports around academics. Many were not prepared to do college-level work because they had never read a whole book or written more than a 5-page paper.
When students leave college, it's usually during the first 2 years. Programs designed to address academic gaps exist, but they require a college to commit funding to 100 and 200 level classes. However, these are often the classes that are taught by faculty who have little institutional support and have too many students in them. Teaching 100 students in an intro to X class, does not allow a professor to give their students the skills they'll need to do well in upper-level course work.
So yes, more funding is needed that directly goes to higher ed institutions, but that funding also needs to be used to build up a faculty and wrap-around supports that can address the academic side of college.
Thanks for this post.
I particularly appreciate your policy prescriptions for community colleges -- long overdue.
But, as a former chair of the HECC and, before then, one of the architects of the Oregon Opportunity Grant program, I've come to the conclusion that our 40-40 goals, especially in regard to the 4-year college goal, have neglected to take into full account the cost to Oregon families for achieving that goal. When you add it up, over the past decade and through the next, that cost will be beyond what's feasible for most Oregonians, even with major Increases in funding for need-based financial aid.
Quick numbers for the current in-state higher ed population of Oregon students: 77,000 X $15,000 (if we could get to that average net cost) X 20 years = $23 billion. What percentage of family income does that represent over two decades? I'll have to dig deeper to come up with that number. Whatever it is, it's a bigger ask of our working families than it is of state taxpayers. Which highlights the problem you've addressed here.
But I would add another item to what's needed to address this, beyond more funds for financial aid and institutional support: Find ways to control and eventually reduce the cost of a four-year college education. Invest more in online learning and move from the residential model of a full four years on campus, where for many college students the cost of living (in housing and meals) is greater than the cost of learning, to a hybrid model of perhaps two years on campus and two years of learning online or in closer-to-home community college settings. Something has to be done to control costs beyond increasing funding to keep up with those costs.