Do Data Dashboards Truly Illuminate?
In 2010, when I first entered the institutional-research field, the most common request from academic departments was a simple, almost humble “I need data.” A decade later, that request had…
Posts tagged with
“return on investment”
Higher Education Behind Bars
Concerns about crime and public safety are top of mind for many North Carolinians. Happily, university and community-college systems offering correctional-education programs can play a role in reducing recidivism. Partnerships…
Financial Responsibility in the Higher Education Compact
Introduction According to recent Pew Research Center polling, seven in 10 Americans believe the higher education system is headed in the wrong direction. Majorities of Americans also give colleges low…
Another Return-On-Investment Boost
If one thing has become clear in the last decade, it is that not all college degrees are created equal. Rather than simply attending any college and getting any degree,…
Hoosier State Slash and Burn
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education, Indiana’s public-university-system leadership, has announced that the state’s public colleges are responding to a new state law by eliminating or merging more than 400…
The Business of Selling Dreams
The point of a college degree is to gain essential skills and knowledge that support your career. In other words, it is to get a job in a field you’re…
The Case for Higher-Ed “Co-Op” Programs
Like many students, I waited months after graduation before receiving a job offer. Why this delay for many of the nation’s recent graduates? The answer, in part, is that most…
Let’s Regulate Colleges Like Businesses
Colleges do not look like for-profit firms selling investments. After all, colleges are primarily nonprofits or state agencies, which, for our purposes, are treated equally. Nevertheless, colleges behave like for-profit…
How Goes the Reforming?
As we are in the midst of the short session of the North Carolina legislature, which typically focuses on budgetary matters, we haven’t seen much that pertains to higher education.…
A New Accreditor Has Money in Mind
Annual federal spending on various tuition-subsidy programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (1965) now exceeds $130 billion. Last year, the Biden administration proposed new Financial Value Transparency…