Is it Time to Cast Off the Tradition of Three-Month Summer Vacations?
College is no longer just for recent high school graduates; in North Carolina’s community college system, the third-largest system in the nation, the average student is 28. College students of the older, “non-traditional” variety need flexibility. They often have steady jobs, families, and other priorities, and they would prefer the option to finish as quickly as possible, without semester-long breaks. Does it really make sense that they are tied to the same academic calendar as their younger peers who prefer summers off?
Is it possible to calculate how much value a college adds?
According to a new report by Jonathan Rothwell and Siddharth Kulkarni of the Brookings Institution, yes.
Pending bills represent progress toward reforming higher ed in North Carolina
Pending bills represent progress toward reforming higher education in North Carolina. However, they are only scratching the surface of the work that needs to be done. The scandals at UNC-Chapel Hill show that the UNC system desperately needs to be made more transparent. And more attention should be directed to reducing the cost of a university education by making the system more efficient. Even so, some reform is better than none.
I wish my job didn’t exist
I love working for Norwich University, but I wish my job did not exist. When I tell folks this, I always get a confused look or a laugh. I follow up by explaining that I’m part of the administrative bloat that universities have taken on to ensure we’re dotting all the “I’s” and crossing all the “T’s” of state and federal regulations.
Accountability first at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine
It is highly likely that the fiscal woes of ECU’s Brody School of Medicine can be stabilized without adding more challenges to State taxpayers. Sixteen million dollars is a lot to hand over without attempting to solve obvious problems first.
Academic folly: When taxpayers subsidize ill-considered degree programs
Each year, UNC officials pitch new degree programs to the system’s Board of Governors. More often than not, the programs are approved, even though a casual observer—especially a non-academic—might snicker or guffaw upon hearing some of their descriptions.
Tenure has its purpose, but shouldn’t last a lifetime
Tenure entrenches academics in their jobs. While it’s a bulwark of academic freedom, tenure also shields those who are not currently earning their keep, as well as many who never did. The current system stymies innovation, most clearly in the area of hiring new faculty. I call for changing it.
The libertarian roots of the Lumina Foundation, Part I
Major donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation dominate higher education philanthropy today. Most are aware of the Gates Foundation’s roots in Bill’s vast wealth, but the story of how Lumina came to be is more complicated.
A liberal arts college tries a new strategy on student debt
Indebtedness due to student loans is one of the most pressing issues in higher education today. I believe strongly that we must face this issue head on, and my institution, Adrian College, has developed a plan to do that.
A UNC program designed to help academically weak students has not delivered
The state is spending millions of dollars on a program that each year drives roughly 300 low-performing students into a four-year university, where they tend to earn poor grades, drop out, or otherwise fail to graduate within a reasonable period of time. That’s wasting taxpayer money and the time, effort, and resources of the students, faculty, and staff involved with the program.