Articles

Articles

May 9, 2007 ·

Paying the Profs – How Much is Enough?

Is the University of North Carolina system experiencing a “brain drain” because of inadequate faculty compensation?

The UNC administration seems to think so. In 2006, the UNC Board of Governors approved a plan proposed by UNC President Erskine Bowles to raise UNC faculty pay to the 80th percentile among peer institutions. (Why the 80th percentile and not 75th or 85th or some other figure was not made clear.) This plan would also provide merit-based pay increases of four percent per year and $2 million to match private funds for distinguished professorships. To pay for all of that, Bowles has asked the legislature for an additional $87.8 million in fiscal years 2008-09.

May 9, 2007 ·

Faculty Compensation in the University of North Carolina System: How UNC schools compare with their national peers

The study is published by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and written by Jon Sanders, a policy analyst and research editor with the John Locke Foundation.

The North Carolina General Assembly allocates funds for faculty compensation. For the 2007-2009 biennium, Erskine Bowles, UNC president, is seeking $87.8 million to boost faculty salaries. This paper will cast doubt on the need for this increase. It will provide empirical information useful for legislators, administrators, taxpayers, and others.

May 9, 2007 ·

Pope Center Releases Report on UNC Faculty Compensation

Raleigh — University of North Carolina faculty compensation compares favorably with compensation at peer institutions around the country, says a new report by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

Using data from the AAUP (American Association of University Professors), Jon Sanders compared average faculty compensation (salaries plus benefits), adjusted for living costs, with compensation at peer universities around the country. He compared UNC campuses with institutions in the same Carnegie classification (a widely-used way of grouping higher education institutions).

May 7, 2007 ·

Let’s Make a Deal

A Catawba County legislator worked a deal Thursday that, if approved by the entire House, would provide an additional $600,000 in recurring funds for the North Carolina Engineering Technology Center. This is a collaborative project between the UNC system and community colleges in the Hickory area, designed to attract new companies to the area by providing technical education.

May 4, 2007 ·

Study on faculty salary to be released

A new study comparing faculty compensation in the University of North Carolina system with peer institutions around the country will be released on Wednesday, May 9, at 11:00 a.m. at a press conference in the Legislative Press Room.

The study is published by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and written by Jon Sanders, a policy analyst and research editor with the John Locke Foundation. Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-District 26) will host the press conference.

May 2, 2007 ·

Should You Invest in Education?

A recent column by James Altucher that ran in The Financial Times touched off a debate between two of America’s most prominent intellectuals. Their argument on the benefits of a college education is worth investigating.

First, the column. Entitled “Why investing in education should pay off,” Altucher’s piece would seem to suggest that going to college is a smart move for young people. But that conclusion would show the folly of judging a column by its title, since the author begins by writing, “As far as I am concerned, college is a waste of time. Instead of going to college, I wish I had worked.” Years of taking classes don’t actually teach you much about life, Altucher suggests. Furthermore, he contends, “it is unclear whether costs of $200,000 – plus opportunity costs by the time all is said and done – are ever made back from your future cash flows.”

Apr 30, 2007 ·

A mini scandal amid a maxi push for federal control

It’s happening beneath the radar of most media and the public, but it is a major conflict, nonetheless. The prize that is being fought over is accreditation – who decides which schools are “good enough” so that their students can receive federal financial aid (such as Pell grants).

Nominally, eight regional associations accredit most of the nation’s undergraduate school (they divide up the country like a cartel, says George Leef, and have little competition). But dissatisfaction with these organizations is strong, especially from Department of Education secretary Margaret Spellings. She is trying to persuade the accreditors to measure student learning, rather than tally inputs such as the number of books in the library.

Apr 27, 2007 ·

Should students all be “college-ready”?

Recently adopted regulations for high school graduation are threatening to shrink vocational education. Following the increasingly popular nostrum that all students should be prepared for college, the state of North Carolina now requires all students to complete the courses required for admission to the UNC system. This requirement adds a course in advanced math and two courses in a foreign language.

Superintendent of Education June Atkinson concedes that vocational and arts courses could get pushed aside. Since the requirements were enacted, some legislators have fought to increase funding for vocational courses. S.B. 1473, introduced by Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, would provide $150 million in funding for high school regional vocational education centers that would teach subjects such as biomedical technology, automotive technology, and construction skills.

Apr 25, 2007 ·

What If the U.S. News College Rankings Went Bye-Bye?

Ask Americans how they know which colleges and good and which ones aren’t so good and they’ll probably say, “the U.S. News college rankings.”

For several decades, the annual issue of U.S. News & World Report that focuses on the rankings of colleges, universities, and graduate schools has been treated with exceeding respect by the public. It purports to identify the best university, best liberal arts college, best law and medical schools and so on according to a complicated formula. Rarely do people analyze that formula and ask if it’s a reliable means of identifying schools where students are most likely to receive an excellent education.