Pell Grants: Where Does All the Money Go?
Jenna Ashley Robinson and Duke Cheston examine how well Pell grants serve students and taxpayers.
Games Universities Play: And How Donors Can Avoid Them
Martin Morse Wooster shows in this report that universities often neglect the wishes of contributors.
A Common-Sense Look at UNC Faculty Workloads
This paper measures the teaching loads of faculty in the University of North Carolina (UNC) system.
A Proposal for Cutting the 2011 UNC Budget
This report provides the Pope Center’s criteria for cutting university budgets, along with specific cuts to the 2011-13 UNC budget.
State Investment in Universities: Rethinking the Impact on Economic Growth
Policymakers today commonly assume that investing taxpayers’ funds into higher education leads to major payoffs in economic growth. This report looks at broader economic studies that attempts to correlate expenditures with results.
Accommodating College Students with Learning Disabilities: ADD, ADHD, and Dyslexia
Universities are providing extra time on tests, quiet exam rooms, in-class note-takers, and other assistance to college students with modest learning disabilities. But these policies are shrouded in secrecy. This paper, “Accommodating College Students with Learning Disabilities: ADD, ADHD, and Dyslexia,” by Melana Zyla Vickers, examines the nature of this assistance and discusses the policy questions it raises.
Do North Carolina Students Have Freedom of Speech?
The report examines the speech, assembly and religious protections for students and faculty at North Carolina’s universities–both public and private. Using the speech code rating system from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the Pope Center found that none of North Carolina’s universities received a “green light.”
The UNC School of the Arts: Should It Be Self-Supporting?
This paper addresses the question of whether taxpayer funding is appropriate for a school that focuses on professional arts training, attracts nearly half its college students from outside the state, and appears to send most of its graduates elsewhere. It is, on a per capita basis, the most costly school in the University of North Carolina system.
College Bound? Make the Right Choices
College Bound? Make the Right Choices is the Pope Center’s latest tool for improving colleges and universities “from the bottom up” through better choices. Its purpose is to help high school students and their parents become smarter purchasers of higher education. This booklet by Jenna Ashley Robinson helps young people think through what they want from college—and choose their colleges accordingly.
The Revenue-to-Cost Spiral in Higher Education
The cost of higher education has been rising rapidly. This paper by Robert E. Martin explains why. The cause is the incentives inherent in the nature of higher education. Higher education is a nonprofit sector; profit and even clear ownership are missing. Martin compares higher education with the broader profit-seeking economy, where costs must be controlled if firms are to survive. He finds that higher education, due to its nonprofit nature and its focus on creating reputation, spends just about all the money it gets, avoiding cost control.