Universities Are Not Economic Saviors, So Let’s Stop Pretending That They Are
To hear some policymakers talk, one would think colleges and universities exist mainly to enhance economic growth rather than to educate.
Costs
American colleges and universities spend billions of dollars a year from state, federal, and private sources. The following articles identify ways to cut costs and ensure that public investment in higher education provides value to students, taxpayers, and society.
The Missing Element of Higher Education: High School Guidance
Jun 26, 2015 ·
Harry Painter
The emergence of a holistic, individual-centered approach to guidance, which informs students of alternate paths, is promising. New innovations are addressing an issue that public high schools have been straining to solve. Raising awareness of alternate careers, apprenticeships, and earning non-degree certificates will allow more students to enter the workforce early and without amassing debt. That may not be the right path for everyone, but more high school graduates need to be aware of those options and more. Any progress in this long-neglected area is welcome.
How to Right-Size a University System
Jun 22, 2015 ·
Jenna A. Robinson
Today, the system is faced with an important existential question: how to “right-size” the system itself, which may include reducing the number of campuses. This question badly needs to be addressed, and soon; as Harry Smith, the chair of the Board of Governor’s budget and finance committee, admitted in March, “[P]eople have been ducking this conversation for a long time.”
An End to Building the Campus to Nowhere?
Jun 19, 2015 ·
R.E. Smith Jr. and Jay Schalin
The North Carolina Senate is taking a responsible stance by not funding unnecessary new building projects for the UNC system.
The Next UNC President Should be a Reformer, Not a Caretaker
Jun 15, 2015 ·
Jenna A. Robinson, Jay Schalin and Jesse Saffron
The most important decision that the University of North Carolina system’s Board of Governors will make this year is the selection of the next system president. Board members have an excellent opportunity to find someone willing to initiate a badly needed departure from the university establishment’s status quo.
Beyond the Academy: As Some Departments Decline, Lifelong-Learning Rises
Jun 12, 2015 ·
Jay Schalin and Jenna A. Robinson
If certain subjects are studied less in the academy, they will be studied more outside of it, and by those who are seriously interested. And that may turn out to be for the best. After all, many top poets, such as T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens, and many important thinkers, from John Locke to Edmund Burke to John Stewart Mill to Eric Hoffer, had non-academic day jobs when they produced their greatest works. A shift to the life-long learning model, using resources both inside and outside the academia, may very well initiate a flowering of culture instead of decay.
Improving Higher Education Through Professor Specialization
Jun 8, 2015 ·
Troy Camplin
Every economist will tell you about the benefits from specialization. We have known about that since Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations. But for some reason, this knowledge is thrown out when it comes to specialization in academia.
Two Conflicting Visions, Part II: Will Producing More Degree Holders Benefit Society?
Jun 3, 2015 ·
Jesse Saffron
Strong cultural momentum—strengthened over several generations by parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and elected officials—has fostered an unwarranted faith in college’s benefits, raised attendance to irrational levels, and yielded an oversupply of graduates.
Conflicting Visions, Part I: Will Producing More Degree Holders Benefit Society?
We ought to send more people to college. Our country is rich enough, our lives are long enough, and our economy is productive enough to justify the costs of providing more opportunity for our citizens to think and read and learn a little longer.
Are Community Colleges the Unsung Heroes of American Education?
Jun 1, 2015 ·
Jay Schalin
Few people know the challenges faced by community colleges as well as Scott Ralls. For the last seven years, he has been president of the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), the nation’s third largest community college system. He will soon leave for a new challenge: he will become the president of North Virginia Community College—the nation’s 11th largest college. Jay Schalin of the Pope Center had a long talk with him about the role of community colleges, about how the NCCCS has dealt with a variety of issues, and where the NCCCS stands today.