Is College Still Worth It? (original) (raw)
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The Future of Accessibility in Higher Education: Making College Skills and Degrees More Accessible
Higher education worldwide is facing unprecedented challenges - the dramatic rise of college tuition, rapidly increasing demands for accountability, and a complex society that demands college graduates with even more skills and capacities. To understand how higher education can effectively address these challenges, this chapter investigates the economic and social benefits of higher education and what it means for the future of accessibility in higher education. Utilizing Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) and signaling theory, a comprehensive search of the literature selected 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and twenty-five books published between 2000 and 2016. The findings suggest that student expectations for a college degree tends to be very instrumental and personal, while higher education purpose of undergraduate education tend towards highly ideal life- and society-changing consequences. Eight recommendations for teacher-scholars, policymakers, and campus leaders are proposed. The ultimate goal is to help make colleges skills and degrees more accessible for students.
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Higher education worldwide is facing unprecedented challenges — the dramatic rise of for-profit institutions, rapidly increasing expectations about what services colleges and universities should provide, and a complex society that demands college graduates with even more skills and capacities. To understand how higher education can effectively address these challenges, this paper investigates the public and private purpose of higher education and what it means for higher education’s future. Utilizing Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) and signaling theory, this research reviews the changing meanings of ‘public’ and ‘private’ in higher education from the perspective of (1) education providers and (2) undergraduate students. A comprehensive search of the literature selected 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and twenty-five books published between 2000 and 2016. Nine synthetic constructs of the goals were found and while there was some agreement between institutions and students on the economic and social benefits of higher education, the review was characterized by a significant misalignment. The findings suggest that student expectations for a college degree tends to be very instrumental and personal, while higher education purpose of undergraduate education tend towards highly ideal life- and society changing consequences. This paper offers eight recommendations for policymakers to consider that address the growing misalignment gap between education providers and undergraduate students. The ultimate goal is to develop renovation or repurposing strategy across competing imperatives and to outline success measures to critically define, measure, and evaluate the achievement of specific goals and outcomes in hopes of resolving potential skills mismatch in a world of massive cataclysmic change.
What Counts: The Policy and Politics of the Proposed College Rating System in the United States
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In August 2013, President Barak Obama proposed a rating system for colleges and universities in the U.S. Several policy issues drove the introduction of this initiative, including the slippage by the U.S. in global rankings for postsecondary attainment, especially among young adults; mounting student debt; growing skepticism about the quality of learning at colleges and universities; and overall doubts about the value of a college degree. The president carefully distinguished the proposed ratings from rankings, such as those published by U.S. News & World Report and other publications. The proposed ratings would comprise 11 metrics, including the percentage of an institution’s students who receive federal Pell Grants; average net price; graduation rates; and graduates’ success in the labor market. Higher education advocates and researchers noted several flaws in many of the metrics. Ultimately, the politics of the U.S. Congress put the future of the rating system in doubt.