College Cost & Funding
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Evidence-Based and the Marginal Cost of Zero
If you can conceive of a solution to a problem that has a marginal cost of zero due to cheap replication and economies of scale, then that’s good. If you’re doing that by going into the digital space, where cost of experimentation is low, even better. Many elements of education are best seen through the Continue reading
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Higher Education is Already a Voucher System
Saw this about the K-12 online space today in NYT: Some teachers at K12 schools said they felt pressured to pass students who did little work. Teachers have also questioned why some students who did no class work were allowed to remain on school rosters, potentially allowing the company to continue receiving public money for Continue reading
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the briefing room: Canadian university considers radical change
the briefing room: Canadian university considers radical change thebriefingroom: Find out why some students are opposed …That problem could be eliminated for future students at tiny Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, which is debating switching to a block plan where students would be taught one course at a time, rather than five at Continue reading
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Rising College Costs Are Due Largely to Books, Room, and Board, Study Finds
Update — I just noticed this was a CCAP study. So forget the study —Vedder’s little conservative lobbyist think tank does the sloppiest work around, and I am pretty sure this study is no different. I regret having given it (mistakenly) any publicity at all. I do wish the Chronicle would stop publishing CCAP’s press Continue reading
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Why the State Money for Education Is Not Coming Back, Cont’d
From the new report: Coming in 2020: New Hampshire’s “Silver Tsunami” By the year 2020, New Hampshire’s shift towards an increasingly older population will reach a peak. And by 2030, nearly half a million Granite Staters will be over the age of 65, representing almost one-third of the population. This trend will influence nearly every Continue reading
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Scholarships Go Disproportionately To White Students
Scholarships Go Disproportionately To White Students From Yglesias, today: The issue here isn’t racial discrimination, it’s a symptom of the fact that the incentive structure of American higher education is totally screwy. Schools want to produce two things. One is rich alumni who give them money, and the other is high ratings from US News Continue reading
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Healthcare swallows everything
Healthcare swallows everything Government spending as a percentage of GDP This is basically the story all over America: John Arnold, director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, said that Medicaid and other health-care expenses are predicted to grow to as much as 40 percent of the state budget by 2015. That will force Continue reading
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On The Innovative University
I read a ton of books on the history of higher education, how change happens in higher education, and how technology will change education, etc. Stuff going back to Boyer’s 1987 book College, Lion Gardiner’s 1994 work on redesigning higher education, to the more recent explosion of books on re-engineering what we do (I’m sure Continue reading
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Publishing Gives Hints of Revival, Data Show
Publishing Gives Hints of Revival, Data Show The “buggy-whip” theory of industry collapse has never really sat well with me. You know, the idea that the buggy-whip producers couldn’t see that cars would collapse their industry, etc. Here’s the problem — did anyone back then really produce (and only produce) buggy-whips? I imagine most “buggy-whip Continue reading
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A Means A: Solving the problem of unbundled credentialing
A Means A: Solving the problem of unbundled credentialing I am suspicious of any idea posted on econlib.org, to say the least. I mean really suspicious. But this is an interesting point a poster there is making — we need to come up with a hybrid solution to credentialing. Why? Well, unbundled credentialing tends to lead Continue reading
Hapgood 