cost of getting an education

Bending the educational cost curve — Joshua Kim

On 07/15/2010, in cost of getting a degree, innovation, by Daniel Christian

Bending the educational cost curve — from InsideHigherEd.com by Joshua Kim

Technology will be one of the essential factors if we hope to bend the educational cost curve. Like health care, but unlike other consumer goods and services, tuition in the past two-decades has risen much faster than either real wages or inflation. Where in real dollars the costs of products such as computers, cars, durable goods and food have decreased while quality has improved, education costs have risen between 4 and 6 percent each year. The cost of paying for education is increasingly shifted from public to private payers, as states reduce support for public institutions, forcing students to borrow more to pay the tuition bills.

How can technology help bend the higher ed cost curve?

…

One of the main points that Kamenetz brought home to me in DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education is that tuition trends will not moderate (or decrease) until higher ed becomes more productive. This means educating more students without spending more money. We need our institutions to become less selective, to admit more applicants, while at the same time increasing the quality and relevance of the education that is received. The leadership within our institutions, the presidents and provosts and deans and chairs etc., should be asking the CIOs and the academic technology directors about how we can increase productivity. And people in educational technology leadership positions should be making this our number one priority. We all need to participate and succeed in the bending the educational cost curve (emphasis DSC).

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • innovation

3-year college program saving students thousands

On 07/14/2010, in cost of getting a degree, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, student-related, by Daniel Christian

3-year college program saving students thousands — from WBZTV via University Business

“I think that the cost of a college is so expensive now that a lot of families have just realized we have to look at this another way,” said Meredith Principe, an advisor at Campus Bound in Lexington.

More colleges across the country are offering various programs to speed up degrees and save money. “The traditional higher education institution needs to be more conscious about cost savings for students because there is going to be a ceiling and I feel that we are approaching that ceiling of cost,” said Southern New Hampshire University assistant dean Ashley Liadis.

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • Walmart of Education

Links and reactions from my Bb DevCon presentation — from Anya Kamenetz

On 07/13/2010, in cost of getting a degree, disruption, game-changing environment, open courseware and systems, by Daniel Christian

Links and reactions from my Bb DevCon presentation — from Anya Kamenetz

Here’s the links from my presentation:

Speak! The Miseducation of College Students
Tim O’Reilly on Education as an Open System (vide0)
Tim O’Reilly: Government as a Platform (e-book)
Open Courseware Consortium
iTunes U
TED
Academic Earth
Khan Academy
Einztein
Saylor
Flat World Knowledge
Open Learning Initiative
“Online Programs Push for More Interaction”, Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2010
National Center for Academic Transformation
2Tor
StudyBlue
UMWBlogs
Excelsior College
Straighterline
Behance
Koda

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • disruption • game-changing environment • ocw • Walmart of Education

Davenport University offers 25 percent off tuition for the unemployed

On 07/13/2010, in career development, colleges, cost of getting a degree, new business models, universities, by Daniel Christian

Davenport University offers 25 percent off tuition for the unemployed — from mlive.com

Davenport University is helping the unemployed prepare for new careers by offering them a 25 percent reduction in tuition, the school announced today.

“Current economic environments across the state of Michigan have created challenges for many,” said Larry Polselli, Ed.D., executive vice president for enrollment and student development. “With 14 campuses across the state and programs tied to today’s jobs, Davenport University is uniquely positioned to help students by extending this tuition discount when people need it most.”

From DSC:
Kudos to DU for their creative, innovative thinking here.

Tagged with: career development • colleges • cost of getting an education • creativity • innovation • new business models in he • universities

Reflections on “Is college overrated?”

On 07/13/2010, in cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, by Daniel Christian

Is college overrated? — from USAToday.com by Patrick Welsh

By Web Bryant, USA TODAY

From DSC:
Those of us in higher education better damn well pause for some serious time of reflection when we continue to see this type of question being asked out there. We had better address it head-on, as I have it that the bubble is already starting to burst in some institutions of higher education — and what’s just as troubling to some, is that the Internet continues its path towards Disruption. But whether you think that there is a bubble or not, the bottom line is this: When we even see this question being asked, we have a problem.

And we had better figure out a way to deliver education at a 50%+ discount/savings. Perhaps there needs to be a continuum of pricing related to how much time a student has access to a full-time faculty member…or perhaps there are different pricing structures for 100- and 200-level courses as opposed to 300- and 400- level courses…perhaps you get a price break when you take a course taught by a grad student…

We need to start thinking much more creatively about pricing structures and how we can get the price of a college education down to much more affordable prices.

We do not want to be in an overvalued* position — a position we will be in if we maintain the status quo.

* What does overvalued mean? — from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/overvalued.asp

A stock with a current price that is not justified by its earnings outlook or price/earnings (P/E) ratio and, therefore, is expected to drop in price. Overvaluation may result from an emotional buying spurt, which inflates the stock’s market price, or from a deterioration in a company’s financial strength.

Investors may be willing to pay more for stocks with superior growth potential, but they don’t want to overpay for a company with growth prospects that don’t justify its current market price. One way to determine whether a stock may be overvalued is to look at the price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio. For example, a stock is generally considered to be fairly valued if the PEG ratio is 1 (which means the P/E ratio equals the estimated earnings growth), and possibly overvalued if the PEG is more than 1.

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • Walmart of Education

Most West Michigan colleges will rent select textbooks to help bring down student costs

On 06/29/2010, in cost of getting a degree, new business models, publishing, student-related, textbooks, by Daniel Christian

Most West Michigan colleges will rent select textbooks to help bring down student costs — from mlive.com by Dave Murray

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • costs • new publishing models • student-related • textbooks

Community Colleges cutting back on open access — from the NY Times

On 06/24/2010, in community colleges, cost of getting a degree, game-changing environment, by Daniel Christian

Community Colleges cutting back on open access — from the NY Times

In this economy, community colleges are widely seen as the solution to many problems. Displaced workers are registering in droves to earn credentials that might get them back in the game. Strapped parents, daunted by the cost of four-year universities, are encouraging their children to spend two years at the local community college.

…

But for students and professors at overstretched colleges, these are hardly the best of times. With state financing slashed almost everywhere, many institutions have cut so deeply into their course offerings and their faculty rosters that they cannot begin to handle the influx of students.

In some parts of the country, the budget stresses are so serious that the whole concept of community colleges as open-access institutions — where anyone, with any educational background, can enroll at any point in life — is becoming more an aspiration than a reality.

…

Because of budget cuts, California community colleges, the largest higher education system in the country, enrolled 21,000 fewer students in the 2009-10 academic year than the previous year. Some districts reported turning away about half of the new students who tried to enroll for the 2009-10 academic year, said Jack Scott, the chancellor of California’s community colleges.

From DSC:
In this game-changing environment, does anyone really believe we are going to go back to the way things were? Is it possible that these shut-out students will take a right-turn and try to accomplish their goals via different means — perhaps employing some non-traditional means even?

Tagged with: community college • cost of getting an education • game-changing environment • Walmart of Education

SponsorMyDegree.com

On 06/23/2010, in cost of getting a degree, by Daniel Christian

Students Beg for Tuition Money Online — from The Chronicle by Sophia Li

As students’ budgets grow tighter than ever, some are resorting to an unusual means to support their college educations: begging for tuition help from strangers online.

A Web site called SponsorMyDegree.com has drawn about 10,000 users since its creation in 2008 by a Colorado couple, Henner and Lilac Mohr. Students can sign up free and create a profile with information about themselves: photos, their hobbies, their career aspirations, the reasons underlying their pleas for help.

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • Walmart of Education • Web 2.0

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • student-related

Improving quality AND reducing costs — from Tony Bates

On 03/26/2010, in budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, by Daniel Christian

Improving quality AND reducing costs — from Tony Bates
Bassis, M. (2010) Changing the equation Inside Higher Education, March 25

This article, by the President of a private college, Westminster College, in the USA, challenges the notion that reducing costs of teaching reduces quality. Some interesting quotes will give you the flavour of the article:

So we started searching the literature for instructional designs that require fewer resources and result in high levels of student learning. The ones we found shared certain characteristics. They were driven by clear learning goals and involved extensive assessment and feedback to students. They stressed active learning and took maximum advantage of technology. In each design, faculty spent less time lecturing and more time coaching, proactively asking and answering questions with groups of students. And faculty were assisted in their coaching role by teaching assistants or peer mentors. Finally, economies of scale helped to produce significant cost savings….

I pulled together a team from our school of business and told them that the goal was to develop an undergraduate degree completion program in business that produced more and better learning at half the cost of our traditional program (emphasis DSC).

From DSC:
This is right along the lines of what I have been saying will happen — and is already starting to happen with Straighterline, University of the People, and other organizations. What are YOUR plans to deal with these trends?