Save a Seat for Mom in Business 101

Save a Seat for Mom in Business 101

When you close your eyes and picture the typical college student, what comes to mind?  A hipster on his Macbook sipping a double venti frappe-cappuccino latte? According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), you are more likely to sit next to someone’s mother or father.  Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a steady increase in the rise of non-traditional students in higher education.  In 2002 nearly 61 percent of all college students were considered “traditional”, which the NCES describes as anyone who falls under at least one of these seven requirements:

  Older than typical age; in other words, a student whose enrollment         has been delayed beyond the year of high school graduation

  Enrolled part time

  Financially independent

  Works full time

  Has a non-spouse dependent

  Single parent

  Did not receive a standard high school diploma

The demographic profile of the United States profoundly affects higher education institutions.  According to Larry Goldstein’s text “College and University Budgeting”, changing demographics will affect different regions and types of institutions in different ways (2005).  Much has changed since 2005 and what could have been considered a “fad” by some turned into a demographic shift that was here to stay.   This trend has proven to prosper and show continual growth and in the end, trends bucks tradition.   Now over half of the student population is considered nontraditional by the NCES definition.  This majority, which stood at a meager 39 percent in 2000, was never predicted as sustainable.  By 2010, nontraditional students will decrease from 39 percent of the total to 37.5 percent (Goldstein, 2005).  This trend of an older student population needs to be met head-on.  Holly Johnson might have hit the nail on the head when she referenced this growing student population as the underserved majority.  Universities need to jump on board with this demographic shift and here are a few ways for them to do so.  

Sources:

Danly, E. (2014, September 15). More than half of college students now 'nontraditional' Retrieved November 18, 2015, from http://nakedlaw.avvo.com/education/trends-buck-tradition-half-college-students-now-nontraditional.html

Goldstein, L., & Meisinger, R. (2005). Chapter 2: The Economic and Political Environment. In College & university budgeting: An introduction for faculty and academic administrators (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NACUBO/National Association of College & University Business Officers.

Johnson, H. (2014, February 7). The rise of the non-traditional student. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.onlinedegrees.com/degree360/student-focus/non-traditional-students.html

Walton Radford, A., Cominole, M., & Skomsvold, P. (2015). Demographic and Enrollment Characteristics of Nontraditional Undergraduates: 2011–12. The US Department of Education, 1-76. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015025.pdf

RE: Rubio or Clinton?

 

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I will start off this week's blog post with a disclaimer.  I do not consider or claim to be a political science expert nor do I typically publically discuss politics.  However, it is evident that decisions made by our current and future leaders impact higher education since colleges are dependent upon fiscal support.  As pointed out in Logan's blog post, Clinton, Rubio, and Sanders have proposed different higher education proposals which requires much thought into selecting the right approach.  I am not going to choose which candidate's approach I believe to be best because I am not prepared to do so at this time.  While the articles provided in Logan's post provide a brief overview of Clinton's and Rubio's plans, a more in depth evaluation must occur to truly understand how each plan would impact higher education students and institutions.  It is essential that college administrators understand their institution's philosophy, mission, strengths, and challenges in order to make effective decisions concerning budgetary dilemmas.
Upon my reflection of Clinton's and Rubio's plans, both candidates are attempting to resolve the budgetary dilemma of declining state fiscal support and rising educational costs.  Particularly tuition costs and student loan debts.  Community colleges are strongly influenced by the economic and political environments.  This is in part a result of their open access educational philosophy which commits to provide accessible and affordable higher education to anyone who has the desire to further their education.  The open access philosophy is based upon the fact that access to higher education is essential for job employment and workforce development.  While community college tuition rates remain considerably less than four year institutions, tuition costs are still concerning since community college students tend to come from lower-income families.  This becomes a significant challenge for the community college equity agenda.  Furthermore, funding is linked to enrollment and/or performance which also becomes challenging for the community college open access philosophy.  Typically, when the economy is good community college enrollment is down and when the economy is bad enrollment increases.
The aforementioned trends impact state fiscal support, tuition costs, and student loan debts.  What can be said about Clinton's and Rubio's higher education plans is that they are based upon different approaches to these fiscal trends.  According to Levin and Kater (2013) there are three possible explanations for declining state funds and rising educational costs.  The Ideological Explanation views postsecondary education as a private good in which funding should correct an imbalance between state fiscal support and tuition (Levin and Kater, 2013). The Structural Explanation views economic limits and its effects on state funding availability based upon sufficient tax revenues from which the funds would be withdrawn (Levin and Kater, 2013). Finally, The Socio-Political Explanation views public reluctance to increase educational funding is based upon accountability (Levin and Kater, 2013).  Should we increase federal funding for education or should we work to ensure that the costs represent the value of higher education? Different approaches to consider as we all make our Presidential candidate decision.

References:

Levin, J.S., & Kater, S.T. (Eds.). (2013). Understanding community colleges. New York, NY: Routledge.

RE: Balancing Enrollment Numbers, Performance Based Standards and Funding

To begin this blog post we must understand one thing. Millennials are the most educated generation that the United States has ever seen. They aren't only the most controversial generation because of the labels that has been given to them by older generations (entitled, lazy, unappreciative, etc.), but this generation could change the look of our education system, the structure of our economy and our social systems. In short, this could be one of the greatest generations to grace this earth with it's presence. To better understand my rationale and view some credible sources on this issues, please view this video:

Because Millennials are the most educated generation, this means that education has been a booming business for the last 20 years or so, if based off of enrollment numbers. However, as Ms. Beck's original post indicated, funding isn't based entirely off of enrollment numbers, it is also based off of results. Have graduating students gotten jobs their education pertains to? Are they making a wage in which college debt is worth taking on?

Clearly, enrollment numbers aren't the issue in funding college institutions. Between 1992 and 2002 degree earning institutions saw an increase of enrollment of 15 percent. Between 2002 and 2012, there has been an increase by 24 percent (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). The projected rate between 2012 and 2022 will be 33 percent, but I am not a statistician.

The information presented doesn't offer a solution to fixing the system. Higher education, as a system is not sustainable. In the next 10-30 years mass amounts of changes will need to be invoked, in my opinion. Difficult questions will need to asked and answered. For example: Which athletics are costing the university the most amount of money? Which academic department is seeing less success in job placement and national recognition? Questions similar to this will require a university to examine their institution as a business model and they can make it more sustainable.

Bump, P. (2014, March 25). Here Is When Each Generation Begins and Ends, According to Facts. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/here-is-when-each-generation-begins-and-ends-according-to-facts/359589/

N2NetworkSocial. (2014, Jan. 5). This Generation Explained - Most educated Generation with no 

        Jobs or Money. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSijInp8Ghw

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). Digest of Education 

       
         Statistics, 2013 (NCES 2015-011), Chapter 3.

Budgets and Advancement

Budgets are the most important part of any business, but more importantly for any school. In order to keep the school doors open a budget needs to be in place as well as ways in which to grow the University or College. Since the last post I have learned a lot in regards to budgets and advancement with Lenoir-Rhyne University due to the interviews we all needed to conduct. It is extremely facinating how the CFO and Vice President of Advancement go about handling the budget. The most important thing is that they are both wanting to grow the University and make sure it stays in line with other institutions our size. For me, the most interesting thing learned is how the CFO tries to make sure there is $1 million of the budget left over at the end of each year in order to advance the University. If there is updating or changes that need to be made to a facility that money would pay for that. Another interesting finding is the fact that the only approval level for our school's budget is through the local level or in other words the Board of Trustees of the University. One of the readings that really stuck out to me in relation to the job that I hold is the alcohol use at Community College's. Even though I am working at a University and relatively small University there is still alcohol use. However, this topic is overall at all colleges and universities. The amount of alcohol use by college students has increased. It is said that 80% of college students have at least one alcoholic drink over a two week period (Palmeri). This article by Josephine Palmeri believes that the issue with college students increase in concumption of alcohol stems from peer pressure. Students go from depending upon their parents at home for so many years to getting to college and depending upon their peers. They no longer have mom and dad telling them what to do, they have their peers telling me to consume alcoholic drinks because "its what everyone else is doing." This goes in line with all the student services that are needed on college campuses. These counseling services and other services colleges provide are needed for issues like peer pressure. If a student is stuggling with peer pressure and needs someone to talk to they need these services to help with the issues of being a college student.

Reference:

Palmeri, J. Peer pressure and alcohol use amongst college students. Retrieved from http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2011/fall/peer.

Greek Life and Institutional Advancement

With the forum subject this week covering the cost of student services, I started to ponder my thoughts and reflections upon Greek life on college campuses, some of the latest news stories concerning these student organizations and how does institutional advancement (donations) or funding in general relate to these organizations.

For context: I was interviewing at a large, public university for a position in student services. The institution has been in the news at that time concerning the presence of Greek life and the opinion of young professionals starting their career in higher education. To summarize, I was asked "Knowing what you do about this university, other universities in the country, how would you approach Greek life from an administrator's perspective?". The position I was interviewing for had no relation to Greek life, but the interviewer brought up a great point I hadn't put a lot of consideration into. Many donors were Greek in college. Would I then, cut those donors off? How much of our entire institutional gifts are from people who have connections with Greek life?

However, I am torn. Every week, I feel like a breaking news story pops up on Facebook, Twitter or the evening news with stories like this, or this (even in my own backyard), and of course we cannot forget the racist song and video that surfaced last spring that was being sung by an entire fraternity (Note: this video is used for reference and scholarly purposes, this does suggests offensive language).

Why even bother with Greek life? According to Nicole Glass of USA Today, 85 percent of Forbes 500 executives were once involved with Greek life. Students involved in Greek life perform better in academics, leadership positions and thrive in social events. These successes that were summarized are enough to assume there are a healthy amount of donations coming from former Greek life members (Glass, 2012). Success in career and landing executive positions usually means more expendable income and more appreciation of the education that was received.

The amount of donations that come from Greek donors is different between every university. This means that each university will need to make a circumstantial decision on how to better Greek life on a campus or evaluate if Greek life is still going to be welcomed on campus. I believe there needs to be a revolution in Greek life, it's unfortunate that we tolerate immoral behavior because of a dollar sign promise. You may be saying "Kohl, don't the positives of Greek life outweigh the negatives?" and to that I believe it might, but I believe in maintaining the integrity of an institution and the learning experience before anything else. I don't have any solutions on how we can overhaul Greek life for a more positive experience on a campus, how we stop the incidents listed above (believe me, I could have listed a lot more incidents just from 2015, but I believe Blogger would eventually limit me on characters) but I think it's at least time to indulge in this conversation.

Glass, N. Examining the benefits of Greek Life. (2012). Retrieve: http://college.usatoday.com/2012 /05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life/

CNN. (March 9, 2015). New video surfaces of racist fraternity song. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ4ZfTW5jbc&feature=youtu.be

Balancing Enrollment Numbers, Performance Base Standards, and Funding

 

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The balancing act of enrollment numbers, performance base standards, and funding has never been more prevalent than right now.  With declining enrollment numbers and state funding, performance accountability becomes more challenging.  In efforts to lead higher education institutions and programs to become more effective and efficient states, colleges, and accreditation agencies have established performance standards.  Meeting these standards ensure policy makers that colleges and programs are focused on improving performance and maintaining desired outcomes.  Additionally, performance accountability is linked to state funding allocations.  As stated by Goldstein (2005), Performance Base Budgeting is centered on outcomes.  Applying this budgeting approach requires allocation of resources (inputs) based upon results (outcomes).  For example, NC allocates a portion of funds to community colleges based upon licensure/certification rates.  The linkage between enrollment, performance standards, and funding are becoming particularly prevalent among vocational faculty and community college administrators. 

Vocational programs have been balancing these factors for a long time.  However, it is becoming more challenging as state revenues decrease, enrollment numbers decline, and state funding declines.  The only factor which has not declined is the performance standard.  Typically, vocational programs have relatively low enrollments based upon industry based admission requirements which makes these programs selective.  Vocational program accreditation associations establish  retention or attrition standards to measure the effectiveness of such programs.  Additionally, many community colleges allocate equipment resources requested by these programs based upon program numbers and performance.  Therefore, the pressure to receive equipment funding and maintain accreditation standards can unintentionally influence how decisions are made.  For example, programs may be tempted to overlook certain student behaviors, inflate grades, and/or lower standards in order to maintain student enrollment, meet performance standards, and receive funding.  As a result, balancing performance accountability with funding has resonated with faculty on an ethical level.

For example, low enrollment imaging programs based upon selective admissions are required by their accrediting agencies to maintain retention rates of 60% or better.  In one particular instance a program with eight enrolled students lost three students due to personal issues.  When another student was caught cheating on an exam, the program fell below the retention rate, and was cited by their accrediting agency.  The same program has requested an expensive simulator for their lab in order to meet an accreditation request and fears it will be declined due to low enrollment numbers.  While the majority of their attrition was due to personal issues out of the program's control, the program will still be held accountable.

This type of climate could drive undesirable behaviors in administrative decision making.  For example, students who are habitually tardy or absent may not be held to the attendance policy in fear of low enrollment numbers affecting performance standards and funding allocations.  So, how can administrators address the pressures of balancing these factors?  Faculty members and administrators need to focus on establishing reasonable outcomes and developing adequate support services to ensure student success.  Utilizing success alert systems such as "Starfish", implementing program boot camps, collaborating with student success centers, and providing feedback to accreditation associations are actions that promote balancing these factors.

References:

Goldstein, L. (2005). College and university budgeting: An introduction for faculty and academic administrators. Washington, DC: NACUBO.

Rubio or Clinton?

In a previous post I discussed Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders' plan for a free tuition for all students who attend public colleges and universities. However, Sanders is only one of many candidates running for president in 2016. Two other well known candidates, Marco Rubio (Rep) and Hilary Clinton (Dem), have their own ideas on how to address problems in higher education. Rubio and Clinton tackle the issues with very different plans and ideas. Clinton's plan focuses on more spending from the federal government while Rubio's plan involves a multitude of bills to address issues that plague higher ed.

As a current student incurring debt for my education, I understand the reason for urgency that all of the politicians running for president have shown towards reducing the cost of higher ed. Hillary Clinton has proposed a $350 billion dollar plan that gives states, ones that choose to opt in, financial incentives to ensure they provide free tuition to students (Bosman & Lewin, 2015). This plan allocates $175 billion towards colleges and universities and theoretically lowers the cost of higher ed. However, states may have the ability to opt out which doesn't help the exploding costs of higher ed in those states or the students in those states. Sanders's plan, however, seeks to make all public colleges and universities tuition-free. Follow this link to see a review of Clinton's plan: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/us/with-350-billion-plan-hillary-clinton-prods-rivals-on-student-debt.html?_r=0

Marco Rubio is a Senator from the state of Florida. He is of Cuban decent and aligns himself with the Republican Party on higher education issues. Rubio does not have 'a' plan like Clinton or Sanders. Rubio's strategy to address the plethora of issues facing higher ed relies on a multitude of components. He has sponsored, co-sponsored or introduced a multitude of bills that address differing issues that face higher ed and students. For example, he has sponsored a bill that would inform students of statistics on each degree to better inform them of what happens in their field in regards to graduation rate and average pay ,and he has introduced a bill that would delay student debt repayment deferred until they are employed instead of when they graduate, along with several others (Cooper, 2015). This strategy is far different and less comprehensive than either Clinton's or Sanders'. Follow this link for a comparison and review of Rubio's and Clinton's plans to see if you buy into Rubio's one-step-at-a-time approach or Hillary's all-in-one approach: http://www.economics21.org/commentary/rubios-higher-ed-plan-beats-clintons

References

Cooper, P. (2015, August 10). Rubio's Higher-Ed Plan Beats Clinton's. Retrieved November 1, 2015.

Bosman, J. & Lewin, T. (2015, August 13). With $350 Billion Plan, Hilary Clinton Prods Rivals on Student Debt. Retrieved November 1, 2015