U.S. Push for Free Online Courses

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I envy those people at a position that can carry out ideas and I am glad that they carry out those ideas.

I wonder if higher education people notice that tests are associated with these courses which more or less call for a 'comparable' score for all institutions - just like what Spellings' committee like to do. The difference is that it hides under the funding. One thing is clear is that the feeling of the necessity of accountability in the higher ed is universal. As the higher ed community continue to resist to changes.

A lot of these are moving toward my opinions expressed in the past:
The role of the instructor will change. Institutions will end up charging for just the services they provided. Evaluation will be measured consistently. Transfer of credit will based on evaluations instead of the reputation/creditation of the transferring institution.

I have to admit the wisdom of the Ombama administration in tackling this from the community college level - courses at this level are better defined than the higher level courses where the contents can vary greatly.

The success of this proposal will level the playground, lower the price of a degree and given chances to everyone - which restore the true equality - the equal CHANCE of sucess but not the equal fruit for all. The restore of the true equality could eventually restore the sense of responsibility to our citizen. It is, however, worth to promote the sense of responsibility at the same time. Since for these kind of offer to work, students have to be self-responsible and motivated. They will have to want to pursue knowledge and initiate the request of help from faculities.




Quite some ideas that match mine.

Studying the 'why' of brain drain in Nebraska

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The problem is the action.
Denis Jone's identify the problem a long time ago. The problem is that the higher education do not want to admit the reality and initiate a major reform. The prefer to hold their current position to keep state funding for every students enrolled. They do not want to be responsible for anything after the student is graduated since that will inevitably point to the over producing of high level degrees. It is possible to build an industries that will absorb all these students, but it will be a lot of works.

U.S. May Need to Prune Number of Research Universities, Lobby Group Says

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Finally they are come to their senses! The high cost of the higher education is just an indicator. The problem lay deep in the system - a system that refuse to look at the reality. A system that lack of accountability and a system that regarding and regulated only to and by itself!

Adding to it is a government that is so political that do not have guts to regulate the higher education. The only rule making is compromise.

DON'T GET THAT COLLEGE DEGREE!

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An Experiment in Merit-Based Student Aid Is Likely to End

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What is the most important ingredient in success?
Do all our students are fired-up and do their best?
Do we have unlimited resources? What's the most efficient way of using public money?
Who deserved the public assistant/encouragement?

Now you see all the problem of incompatible grades. Go with ACT test then improved on it.

An entitlement is BAD! Just look at our system!

2009 Nebraska Community College Study - Funding Formula

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What funding formula have done in 2008-09:

In general, the formula did what it intended to do. Property rich institutions get most of their funding from property tax while property poor institutions receive more state aids.

The data also made senses in that the larger the institution, the less resources is needed per FTE.

* Note: FTEs are derived from IPEDS while the Revenue data is from the Rough worksheet of the 2008-09 calculation.

Random thoughts on community colleges

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At the state level, state policies should be focused on the benefits of the state as a whole. At local level, local policies should be focused on the benefits of local entities.

A community college is located at a community. But it can benefits both the state and the local community.

At the local level, community college can be viewed as a service provider to local residents and local employers.

For local employers, community colleges can provide economical education services for employers that is otherwise more expensive to achieve. For example, for basic academic training, it is more efficient for community college to provide a class that serves a group of students than for employer to train a couple of employees. Besides, employers may not have the adequate personnel to teach these courses.

For tech. or career trainings, community college can also provide efficient trainings. For example, employer may not want to stop or slow down the production line just for the training purposes. Besides, dedicated teachers at the community college can better follow up with new development in the industries.

For local residents, community college can provide courses for personal improvements. Even for non-students, the community colleges can serve as a consumer bargaining entity. For example, through the community college, residents can access subscription based online libraries or databases.

With these benefits, it is only reasonable, that the funding for community colleges to be derived from local residents and employers.

Of cause, not all residents is going to stay in the resident community. One of the reason of leaving the resident community is to pursue trainings that is not available to the local community. For the state as a whole, it is beneficial to promote students pursuing higher degree in the hope of upgrading the state's workforce profile and attracting high paying jobs to the state. With state's interest in the stake, it is of interest for state to invested in the community colleges, especially in academic transferring programs.

With all these being said, we need policies to provide incentives to facilitate these ideas.

2009 Nebraska Community College Study

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Introduction
Prompted by the dispute over the state funding formula for Community Colleges, Nebraska State Legislature is asking Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education to conduct a study (Law LB340) with the following 5 major objective:

1. The need for changes to the statutory role and mission of Nebraska community colleges;
2. Changes in the weighting of courses that may be necessary for reimbursable educational units to properly reflect the role and mission of Nebraska community colleges and the cost of providing such courses;
3. Powers, duties, and mission of the Nebraska Community College Association or its successor and whether membership in such an association should be required;
4. Consequences for failing to satisfy current community college association membership requirements contained in section 85-1502; and
5. State coordination of community colleges in the absence of a community college association or membership therein.

Basic information and tentative schedules are available on the CCPE Project Site. The first public event is the public hearing on June 18, 2009.

We understand that in order for public to provide sensible input, information about Nebraska Community Colleges are very important and we are here to provide assistant on this.

Background information
CCPE reports

• Factual Look - Enrollment, Completions and Faculty Salaries
• Progress Report - Retention Rates, Graduation Rates
  
• Budget Report - College Fundings
  

Nebraska Department of Labor

• Graduate Outcomes in Nebraska - Employment of College Graduates
  

Nebraska Community College Association Site

• History
• Funding Formula History

Weighting of courses (REU - Reimbursable educational units) for state reimbursement

• State Funding for Community Colleges - from Community College Policy web site
  
• Kansas Study - From Metro's web site
  

Mission of Community Colleges

• Hudson County (CA) Community College Mission Survey
  

Survey Form

National Center for Education Statistics - Higher Education

• Data Center
  

List of Higher Education Sites

• CCPE Research Links (Login as guest)
  

Every crises is an opportunity.

Do we have enough input from community? Do we serve the local need? Are we running things effectively? How should we build the dynamics into the system so the system will grow when the need changes. What is the role of the state and what is the role of the community?

In general, state should look at a state's fair and provides incentives. Local communities should look at their benefits and decides what is the best movement for them.

Similar Selectivity, Dissimilar Graduates

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I will have to look at the survey. I wonder if IPEDS data give enough info on school selectivity to begin with.

46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards

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Well said Jack Jennings.