In his first address to Congress, President Obama stated that one of his top priorities will be to ensure that the United States once again leads the world in having a college-educated population.
Over the last several months, 11 states have been working with support from Lumina Foundation for Education to ensure that more students enter and graduate even as their states endure the worst budget crises since World War II.
The states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin – have been awarded $150,000 one-year grants as part of the Foundation’s Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) initiative. As part of this effort, governors, legislators and leaders of colleges and universities currently are participating in a national “Learning Year.” They are refining and developing strategies in three policy areas:
- Recasting state finance systems to reward institutions for graduating students, not just enrolling them. In most states, appropriations for public colleges and universities are based on how many students have enrolled and/or on how much was spent the year before. By contrast, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas are exploring innovative ways of financing college based on completion and graduation. The states will identify new ways funding policies and formulas can promote and reward academic success, give more insight into institutional performance, and promote collaboration among institutions.
- Increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of academic programs and administrative operations. States and institutions have historically pursued cost saving and reallocation strategies as a response to budget shortfalls, rather than as an ongoing part of how they do business. California is analyzing information about student academic progress and attendance, credit accumulation patterns, and academic performance to identify and remove barriers to student success. Colorado has awarded grants to four state institutions that will test campus-based approaches to increase enrollment and attainment for adults that are a few credits short of earning their degrees and to promote Hispanic student success in science, technology, and mathematics fields. Mississippi is mounting an effort to advance a system-wide redesign of developmental education courses.
Meanwhile, two other states are working to improve transitions and transfers from community and technical colleges to four-year institutions and to reduce the time it takes for students to earn degrees. To address workforce shortages in teaching, engineering, and nursing, Maryland is developing concurrent enrollment programs at community colleges and four-year institutions. As part of its plan, Wisconsin will simplify its transfer process and address barriers to success for returning veterans, adult learners, minorities, and other underserved populations. It also will provide opportunities for students to complete a baccalaureate degree in three years utilizing concurrent enrollment, online, and year-round instruction.
- Creating or expanding new models of delivery to serve more students by targeting lower-cost institutions. For example, Montana is building a new, networked consortium of technical and community colleges that is convenient for students who live far away from college campuses. Arizona is developing more cost-effective pathways to baccalaureate degrees by tapping a broader range of institutions in building bachelor’s programs. The state is developing a pilot community college-university partnership program that will feature a joint admissions process, joint advising and career planning, and shared student support and counseling systems.
"Lumina Foundation's initiative allows states like Maryland to continue expanding the opportunity of higher education to more of our citizens rather than fewer. Higher education should not be a privilege afforded only to those with the means to purchase it, and these funds from Lumina will help Maryland fill the gap of demand and available public resources."
--Gov. Martin O'Malley, Maryland
“Although Texas is doing comparatively well in these difficult economic times, we must continue pressing for a more efficient and affordable system of higher education that will prepare students for the increasingly high-tech workplace. These funds from Lumina will help our state continue pursuing better, more affordable ways to increase successful student participation in higher education.”
--Gov. Rick Perry, Texas
Using New Tools
As strategic first steps, states involved in MOA are gathering important information about how their systems operate. They are:
- Conducting state policy audits to ensure that higher-education policies align with state goals for cost-effective degree production. States are reviewing laws, regulations, and policies in everything from finance to human resources to information technology and will propose policy changes based on the findings.
- Using student flow models to identify where in the system states are losing students and dollars. States are partnering with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems to examine a broad range of data, including student patterns of attendance, credit accumulation, experience with bottleneck courses, and academic performance. The information generated by these models will help identify where and how campuses and systems lose the most students and what can be done to boost productivity. Some states, such as California, are also examining the impact of system fee policies and federal, state, and institutional financial aid policies on students.
- Tracking how their money is being spent. States are drawing on new tools and metrics from the Delta Cost Project, a new nonprofit organization that has created a national database on college spending in key categories, such as research, instruction and student support, public service, and other areas. With support from MOA, Delta also has developed metrics to help states and institutions better track where money comes from and where it goes. Montana, for example, is using Delta’s metrics to evaluate finance policies within its two-year institutions. In collaboration with Delta’s staff, Mississippi is developing strategies to strengthen capacity to manage costs at the state and system levels.
Building Support and Efficiencies on Campus
States officials that are seeking to change enrollment-based funding formulas recognize that they will need support on the ground. Many are engaged in dialogues with campus leaders, faculty, and staff about what must change and working with campus leaders and others to identify best practices that can be brought to scale.
For example, Ohio has established a statewide “efficiency council” comprised of trustees, students, business representatives, and university and community college association representatives. The council will develop and monitor creative solutions for efficiencies throughout the University System of Ohio—from the use of facilities to aggregating purchasing power to leveraging the scale of the system to provide more low-cost options for students. The council will make its meetings, findings, and recommendations public and will distribute them to the media, elected officials, and other stakeholders.
Providing Lower-Cost Options Where Students Are Located
A number of states are working to increase enrollment and degree production by developing delivery models that rely on lower cost institutions. Montana is pursuing this strategy by coordinating and expanding two-year colleges to reach populations (high school students, Native Americans, working adults, and underserved regions). The state also will promote new delivery models such as portable programs and technology-enhanced collaborations.
“We need to reach students where they are academically and also geographically.”
--Mary Moe, Deputy Commissioner of Two-Year Education, Montana
Moving Beyond Campuses and Capitals
States also are exploring the role that the business community can play in building support for a productivity agenda. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, for example, is spearheading efforts to revamp the state’s higher education finance formula. California is cultivating “business champions” across the state to help communicate the urgent need to increase baccalaureate degree production, particularly in high-demand fields.
Thinking Big
The Learning Year is meant to provide information about what doesn’t work as well as what does. “We want to encourage strategic risk taking, and this will mean that not everything that is attempted is going to be successful,” said Kristin Conklin of HCM Strategists, LLC, which is overseeing state planning and implementation efforts. “But we are encouraging states to think big and pursue what they think are the best bets for promoting large-scale productivity improvements.”
“States can’t be shy when it comes to finding ways of increasing productivity on our nation’s acampuses to raise stagnant U.S. Degree-attainment rates. While we’re holding pat, other nations are rapidly expanding their higher education systems and producing more graduates.”
-- Jamie Merisotis, President, Lumina Foundation
Merisotis noted that the current economic environment requires dramatically new approaches. “If the challenges of prior economic slowdowns have taught us anything, it's that the absence of new money can make possible change that wouldn't otherwise be possible.”
“Transforming higher education policy and practice is a huge undertaking, but it’s where Indiana has to now go. For states like Indiana to have strong economy and strong communities, we need to provide new incentives for higher education to change in real ways and make room for thousands more Hoosiers that need postsecondary education.”
-- Scott Jenkins, Education Aide to Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana
Looking Ahead
Later this year, the $45.5-million MOA initiative will award grants of $2 million each to as many as five states whose plans hold the greatest promise to bolster higher education productivity.
An Interview with Labor Economist Anthony Carnevale
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