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Potential students want the most bang for their buck when it comes to getting a college degree. Considering that the average bachelor’s degree can cost $100,000 or more, that’s a wise decision.

Finding the right university is about finding the right program as well as the right fit, and you want a degree that’s from a respected university. College accreditation can help to assure you that your school has merit and that your degree has value.

Reviewing a school’s accreditation status can help when choosing a university, but accreditation can trick potential students.

How accreditation works

A regional or national stamp of approval, known as accreditation, is an affirmation that the school’s educational program meets quality standards.

A university may seek accreditation  for its overall academic program, but its doesn’t stop there. Colleges/schools and their departments/programs must also become accredited. For instance, a college/school of education worth its salt will seek CAEP accreditation, and its individual departments/programs will also seek accreditation via CAEP.

Ultimately, accreditation can assure potential students that the university and its colleges are respected institutions of higher learning.

The university is accredited; the program is not

Problems can arise when the school has been accredited, but specific colleges or programs within the university system have not been certified.

Students assume their chosen degree will be honored upon graduation, but there is no guarantee the diploma will be respected unless the program is also accredited. Be aware of disclaimers like “accreditation pending.” The accreditation may never come, leaving your engineering or law degree worth no more than the paper it was printed on. 

National or regional accreditation? 

For some potential students, the tricks don’t end there.

Regional accreditation assures that you are receiving a premium education, but the drawback is that your degree will cost more – if you meet the admission requirements.

Schools with national accreditation are often more affordable, and they are easier to gain admission into. The caveat here is that not all credits and degrees are transferable, nor do all corporate tuition programs provide reimbursement. 

What benefits will accreditation provide?

By choosing an accredited school, potential students can reap several benefits. These include:

• More opportunities to seek financial aid
• Receiving an education of higher quality
• Earning a degree that will be recognized by other institutions if you choose to pursue graduate-level work
• Acceptance by industry professionals

The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) are the two organizations who certify accrediting agencies.

Potential students who look carefully at university and individual accreditation are less likely to be tricked when selected their colleges.

While parents often think they are raising kind children, a glimpse at the adults around us proves this isn’t true. Sadly, kids are surrounded by adults who are cruel, mean, and selfish. Since children learn from what they see, parents must make every effort to encourage their children to be kind.

Many parents think they are teaching their children to be kind, but studies show this is not the case. According to a new study by Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard psychologist, “About 80 percent of the youth in the study said their parents were more concerned with their achievement or happiness than whether they cared for others.” It is common for parents to place more emphasis on success rather than kindness. Let’s look at some ways you can redirect your focus today.

1. Be a Kind Adult

First, you must be a kind adult yourself to raise kind kids. Children learn more from your example than from your words. Therefore, you must strive to be kind. Be kind to yourself, your family, and others. Your children will notice.

2. Speak Kind Words

When you are upset or frustrated, remember to watch your words. A gentle word in a difficult situation is a great way to show your children how to be kind. Simply using kind words when dealing with people rather than losing control or speaking harshly is a wonderful way to encourage kindness. Avoid negativity at all costs.

3. Compliment Freely and Regularly

Some adults feel uncomfortable giving and receiving compliments. If you are one of these adults, you need to change this habit today. Compliments are easy ways to be kind. Whether you are complimenting your children or the store clerk, a kind compliment goes a long way.

4. Have a Family Motto

As I mentioned earlier, consider what key lesson you are teaching your children. Are you teaching them that success in the classroom is more important than being kind? If so, take some time to reevaluate. For example, talk with your kids about what matters the most to you. Consider developing a family motto that you can recite. It can be something as easy as, “Be loving and kind.”

5. Practice Gratitude

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude by regularly practicing thankfulness. Teach your children to say, “Thank you” whenever someone does something for them. Grateful children are kind children.

6. Engage in Random Acts of Kindness

As a family, come up with a list of simple ways you can show kindness. Then, put these ideas into practice. Engage in random acts of kindness such as paying for the car behind you at the drive-thru, giving away bubbles at the park, or taking a plate of cookies to your neighbor.

7. Serve the Community

Make it a point to volunteer in your community. The practice of serving just for the sake of helping others is a fantastic way to encourage kindness in children. There are many opportunities to serve with children such as delivering meals or sorting clothing at a shelter.

8. Read Books About Kindness

Kids learn from examples. If you need some immediate examples of people who are kind, go to the library to find books with characters who are kind. For instance, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud is a great resource.

9. Foster Empathy

Help your children to see the world beyond your door. When we encourage our children to consider the needs of those around them, it helps to foster empathy. These feelings will then lead to kind acts.

10. Catch Your Kids in the Act

One of the best ways to encourage kindness in children is to catch them in the act. Whenever you see your child being kind, praise him or her! Let your child know you saw what he/she did and how much it meant to you.

In a world filled with unkind people, you can encourage kindness in your kids. The changes the world needs, start in your home.

If you’re looking to improve the quality of life for those living in your state, begin by helping more poor students attend college.

Here’s how:

Provide financial aid to those who need it the most

Scholarships, loans, and grants can help to make college more affordable for those who need it the most. Governors, make sure that these forms of aid are based on need or performance, but most importantly, help poor students understand that if they want to go to college, there is a way. Some of these opportunities include:

• State grants
• Teacher education assistance
• Military service grants
• Offsets for additional expenses

Students can’t apply for them if they don’t know they exist

Eliminate the limbo of remedial courses

Remedial classes are an expense poor students can’t afford. Three out of every five students enrolled at a community college are required to take at least one remedial course.

Classes designed to bring students up to par with university learning standards are built on good intentions, but in reality, are more detrimental than helpful. Remedial courses cannot be taken for college credit. As a result, they waste time and money that could be spent pursuing a college education.

If students could take their remedial classes outside the university system, the bridge between high school and college would be less costly and more effective.

Low income does not mean low cost or low prestige

Far too often, poor students set their sights low because they don’t want to incur more debt than necessary. While that’s a smart way to mitigate financial risk, students from low-income households are selling themselves short when selecting their colleges.

They may be surprised to know they qualify for more financial aid if they choose to attend universities with more prestige and higher tuitions. The return on investment can offset the initial expenses of their degrees.

Students need to know what their options are, and you Governor can assist with that by funding outreach programs that address the issue in high school.

Cutting money from education budgets mean eliminating opportunity

People get it. Times are tough, but reducing the amount of funding allocated for schools may resuscitate the bottom line, but it doesn’t help the average citizen get ahead. Improving one’s outlook is even harder for poor students, and cutting funding for higher education virtually eliminates a poor student’s prospects for going to college and creating a better life for himself or herself, much less the surrounding community.

Begin early

Preparation for college doesn’t commence in one’s junior or senior year. Even 9^th and 10^th grades are too late.

Helping disadvantaged students attend college begins in early childhood. Students from low-income backgrounds need high-quality early childhood education as a way to level the playing field and give them the start they need.

Academics seem to write exclusively for themselves. Their writing includes selective phrases and other oddities that prevent them from being understood rather than increasing their communication effectiveness.

In short, academics are their own worst enemies.

The problem is that academics often tend to forget who their intended audience is. They use jargon that sets them apart and makes them appear unreachable. Instead of using pretentious words and phrases, they should stop writing and speaking in jargon and start using language everyone understands.

There are plenty of reasons why common language is better than jargon.

Jargon isolates

It’s as accurate in academia as it is in the workplace: jargon creates distance. An unusual word or phrase can get in the way of understanding what the real message is. Unclear communication, whether written or spoken, can make meaning inaccessible.

Jargon can also turn away potential students who don’t understand what their professors are talking about.

Who is your audience?

When academics write and speak for other academics, it makes perfect sense to write in jargon. The jargon of academia is not dissimilar to a mysterious code. It’s the secret handshake between distinguished scholars. Because that code is understood by both the sender and the receiver, it’s perfectly okay to speak and write in jargon that is exclusive to the field of study.

If you are not a part of that selective, group, however, jargon makes the message more difficult to understand.

“Edu-speak” is a disease

Letting edu-speak to take over academic communication is like allowing a disease to spread. You didn’t mean for it to happen, but once it took hold, it permeated everything.

As a result, academics speak in acronyms exclusive to their own fields. Buzzwords, clichés, and empty phrases fill the gaps in thoughts and sentences when precise language can provide more meaning, especially for those outside the ivory tower of academia.

Practical tips to improve writing clarity

Ponderous language bogs down understanding. In his rant about James Fenimore Cooper’s Deerslayer, Mark Twain offered a panoply of advice for improving one’s writing, including:

• Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.
• Use the right word, not its second cousin.
• Eschew surplusage.

It would seem that the same advice holds true today for academics seeking to communicate.

Ordinary and more colloquial language has its benefits

According to George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language,” clear writing comes from clear thinking. If academics wrote and spoke less in jargon, perhaps their thinking would come across as more clear. It’s certain they would reach a wider audience.

Nearly two thousand universities and colleges in the United States offer teacher preparation programs.

It’s a good thing there are plenty of options for teacher training because there likely will be a continued teacher shortage – enrollment in teacher preparation programs has dropped 35%.

The areas of math and special education especially need top talent in the classroom, but highly skilled teachers are always welcome in every subject.

With so many choices, where does a future teacher go for the best teacher prep in America?

Texas A& M University

This university in College Station, Texas, offers outstanding teacher training in fields like bilingual education and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).  All teacher candidates learn impressive leadership skills at this school. The elementary education teacher preparation program has consistently been one of the top teacher training programs in the U.S.

University of West Alabama

Achieve your career goals with an online education degree designed for your budget and your schedule at the University of West Alabama. You’ll develop the skills and knowledge needed for advancement inside or outside the classroom, in a convenient online format from one of Alabama’s oldest and most prestigious universities.

Fort Hays State University

Consistently in the top three of secondary education teacher programs, Fort Hays State gives students the hands-on experience they need to be immediately successful their classrooms. Without practical application, theory is useless, so these professors make sure students get plenty of both at Fort Hays State.

The school is making an educational impact. It’s also one of the fastest growing universities in Kansas.

Brown University

One of the top private Ivy League, teacher preparation programs, exists at Brown University in Rhode Island. Faculty members focus on teaching, and as a result, students report being highly satisfied with their degrees. Brown offers multiple pathways in their teacher training program; the flexibility assures that candidates are on the right track for training and certification.

Exceptional teacher candidates may be invited to apply for the Rhode Island Teaching Fellows Program. This fast-track program accelerates instruction to get teacher candidates into the classrooms where they are needed the most.

Also, the value of a degree from Brown University may be hard to pass up. The tuition is considered highly affordable for the quality of instruction and the likely return on investment.

Vanderbilt University

You can also head to Nashville, Tennessee, to enroll at Vanderbilt University. Here, the Peabody College of Education and Humanities requires faculty and teaching assistants to research and practice their instructional skills, and undergraduates students benefit from the heightened focus on everything instruction.

Vanderbilt has been instrumental in identifying the skills of highly successful teachers and aligning them with national learning standards; teachers graduating from this program will likely be some of the best educators in our schools.

Top teacher preparation programs in the U.S. are paving the way for improved teaching and learning. You can be a part of it by choosing one of these schools.

Universities are no different than any other service trying to market itself. Higher education continuously seeks to market their degrees by showing the benefit of earning them with that particular school.

Colleges have found them in a position where they have to develop positive student perceptions in spite of rising costs in obtaining a degree. Students want to earn degrees from schools that offer respected diplomas. These three strategies show how to rate a university’s value proposition.

How well does the school’s marketing funnel work? 

Good marketing strategy is based on using a funnel to attract potential consumers and convert them to clients.

Universities begin by casting a wide net for interested students. These students become applicants, and from there, the school can measure their progress toward creating conversions by the number of applications completed, how many students were accepted, and the number who decided to matriculate. 

Retention rates

Staying in school can be harder than getting accepted, making freshman-to-sophomore retention rate an integral part of a school’s value proposition. It’s critical to find out why students are leaving higher education before their sophomore year.

Freshman who perceive that their freshman courses have little value will likely leave the institution and enroll in a different school or leave higher education altogether.

Return on investment

After spending four to six years earning a bachelor’s degree, students want to know the return on their investment (ROI).  They want to get the best bang for the buck, and with good reason since tuition costs are continuously rising.

One of the most common ways to determine ROI is to compare the cost of tuition against median earning power for university graduates.

More than facts

Creating a value proposition should be about data, and universities generate plenty of big data they can use in analyzing their marketing success. Facts, however, do not always support student and community perception.

Colleges with the best value proposition are also the ones who can best meet their students’ needs. For some enrollees, that means financial aid. For other students, the value proposition may come in the form of personalized learning experiences or bespoke degree plans that will set them apart from other graduates.

Ultimately, students want a degree from a respected university; often the value of that degree is deeply personal.

Attention to building the right value proposition can help universities meet those goals for the degree candidates.

University professors, provosts, and presidents know that higher education faces serious challenges, but those who hold these positions are too far removed from the problem to fix it.

To find how to overcome the dysfunction in higher education, you have to focus on the mid-management position of the dean.

What does a dean do?

The dean lives and works at the hub of higher ed. A dean’s duties include instructional program oversight, faculty and staff supervision, and budget management. They receive complaints, seek supplemental funding, and communicate with stakeholders within and outside the university system.

With so much on their desks, it seems evident that they need support, and this support could help deans fix the dysfunction in higher education.

What is the dysfunction in higher ed? 

When the business of higher education begins to fracture into isolated areas, dysfunction is taking over. The disconnection occurs when instruction, finance, scholarly research and professional collaboration exist in isolation from each other.  The silo approach to higher education is less effective than an integrated approach

Experts recommend reviewing each of the following departmental issues:

• Academic – Maintaining rigorous standards for research and teaching is critical to the success of higher education.
• Cultural – The tendency to do business the way it has always been done can have a negative impact on students and faculty.
• Interpersonal – Academia can attract personalities that clash with each other unless management can step in to mentor and coach faculty.
• Leadership – Effective leaders must be able to manage current situations and plan for future transition.
• External influences – Donors and alumni can influence department decisions.

What works

University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) thought so, too. Upper management developed a leadership program for deans. The idea was to help those at the center of impact develop the skills they needed for success.

The professional development for the deans consisted of timely discussions, training, feedback, and coaching. Committing time to the program was the most difficult challenge, but the deans developed the skills they needed for improved influence and leadership.

University deans were able to integrate their newly learned skills in areas critical to the success of the school.

In summary

Deans can fix the dysfunction in higher education, but to do so, they need continued support from upper management. They also need time to develop the necessary skills and apply them.