education

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education March 17, 2018

3 Signs Your College Is on the Path to Closing

Back in July 2014, Corinthian Colleges agreed to close or sell nearly all its campuses. The move left 72,000 students wondering what next.

While Corinthian Colleges Inc. was a special case, and its closure related to fraud, more and more colleges and universities are struggling to operate on ever-shrinking budgets.

Losing your spot in school because it’s closed presents enormous challenges for students: financial aid becomes even more complicated, transferring credits is difficult, and students may be stuck in limbo in mid-semester without time to transfer or apply to a new school before the start of the next term.

Being pro-active is the best solution in the event your school closes. And there are ways to predict whether your school is in trouble.

The Department of Education Gives It a Poor Financial Rating

The U.S. Department of Education measures the financial strength of American institutions in what is called the financial responsibility composite score.

The score is on a scale of 1.0 to 3.0 where 3.0 is positive. If your school is ranked 1.5 or higher, the school is financially responsible, which means it doesn’t carry too much debt or misspend its money.

If your school is ranked under 1.0, then it is considered to be financially irresponsible.

The School Is About to Merge

According to a report by the Boston Globe, college mergers that were unthinkable 100 years ago are becoming more and more common as small schools with small budgets struggle to stay afloat.

While elite level institutions or those sitting on valuable urban real estate are considered to be well-positioned to weather the storm, less-elite schools might suffer.

A merger isn’t a sign that your school will close; some mergers benefit students at both schools. However, not all mergers go through, and the failure of a merger can lead to collapse.

The Administration Is Acting Irresponsibly

When Burlington College closed at the end of the school year in 2016, it was the result of the financial difficulties, including debt and the loss of the school’s line of credit, and poor decision-making by the college administration that led to threats to its accreditation and to closing.

Look at what your college president and administration is aiming to do in the next few years; are critics questioning its feasibility? If so, your college may be starting down the path to closure.

As colleges try to deal with a greater number of financial issues and competitiveness, there will likely be more closures in the future. Surviving them may, unfortunately, involve getting out ahead of them. Were you a student at an institution that closed? Share your stories below.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education March 9, 2018

How to Rate a University’s Value Proposition

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.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education March 6, 2018

Can Deans Fix the Dysfunction in Higher Education?

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.

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Parenting March 5, 2018

6 Must-Have Apps for New Parents

Welcoming a baby into your world is an excellent adventure. But, it is also a huge learning curve. New parents are tasked with keeping track of their little one’s feedings, growth, and development. For instance, keeping track of your baby’s feedings and diaper changes will give you an idea of whether your child is eating enough.

Rather than having to use a journal to document everything, you can simply use apps on your phone to keep track of everything you and your baby’s pediatrician needs to know.

Cloud Baby Monitor

Before you add an expensive baby monitor to your registry, you should consider taking advantage of your mobile devices. For parents looking for a mobile monitor app, they should look no further than Cloud Baby Monitor. This simple app turns your Apple device into a monitor by live streaming your baby from one Apple device to another device. Also, this app also gives parents noise and motion alerts.

Total Baby Pro

The Total Baby Pro app is an excellent choice for tracking everything about your baby. It is helpful for keeping track of feedings, diaper changes, sleep, as well as documenting vaccinations, growth, doctor visits, and more. Another reason this app is a must-have is because it has timers and alarms that may be customized. It also syncs across Apple devices.

White Noise Baby

Many parents swear by white noise machines because the sounds emulate the noises babies are familiar with from the womb. Save some money and purchase the White Noise Baby app instead. In addition to white noise, it includes twenty ambient sounds and ten musical features.

Milk Maid

Breastfeeding moms will love the Milk Maid app for learning how much they are feeding their babies and their pumping schedules. This app keeps track of your pumping sessions and your current breastmilk inventory, as well as alarms, to remind you when it is time to pump.

WebMD Baby App

Instead of Googling baby questions, simply download the WebMD Baby app to have all the information in one place. In addition to the important expert content, the app also includes tools for keeping track of your baby’s development and a baby book feature (which can be shared with friends and family).

Babysitting Pro Activity Log

For parents utilizing babysitters or other childcare services, the Babysitting Pro Activity Log is a great app to download and use. It allows your babysitter to track your baby’s feedings, diaper changes, and sleeping. Your babysitter can also use the app to send you immediate notifications.

For new parents, having a baby may seem overwhelming at first (especially when they are already sleep deprived). However, technology is making even easier to adapt to having a new baby at home.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 27, 2018

A Money-Back Guarantee For College?

What would happen if students could get their money back for college?

Does that seem incredible? Well, some colleges and universities are pioneering policies to do just that.

For generations, students and parents have signed on for what could be the biggest expense of their lifetimes without questioning its worth. No one has argued that a college degree is worth the money.

But now, things are changing. Some students have difficulty finishing their degree on time, leading to additional expenses that they hadn’t expected. Some can’t find a job that pays enough to cover the cost of their student loans. Others may not find a job in their chosen field at all. These trends are leading many to question whether a college degree is worth the money. As with a car or a home, it seems desirable to have some assurance to fall back on in case the item is discovered to be faulty.

Creative Solutions?

To respond to these concerns, colleges have come up with some creative ways to guarantee value for their tuition costs.

For example, SUNY Buffalo’s “Finish in Four” program gives students free tuition until they finish their degree if they do not attain it within four years. Davenport University guarantees extra tuition-free courses for select students who do not find employment within six months of graduation. And Adrian College guarantees assistance in paying off student loans for graduates who earn a salary of $37,000 or less.

Or Just a Marketing Ploy?

Such programs add luster to admissions brochures and are attractive to finance-savvy students and parents. But the reality is that they have to be financed somehow. How much does that really benefit students?

In most cases, such programs have strict eligibility requirements, so that only a few students can qualify to take advantage of them. Students must be willing to take a consistently full course load, receive career counseling, and pursue employment aggressively. Such strict requirements diminish the pool and ensure that the cost of a “money back guarantee” will not get out of hand. Often, schools pass on the additional cost of the program to students in the form of increases in the cost of tuition and/or books.

There’s no denying that the time has come to reconsider the monetary value of a college education and how we can make this asset more valuable. Visionary “money back guarantee” solutions are a step in the right direction, but more work needs to be done.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 26, 2018

How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race on your Campus

There’s more to having a discussion about race on your campus than organizing a Professional Learning Community around the reading of Crucial Conversations (Patterson), although a PLC can be a good start. This observation may especially be true, as the book says, “When stakes are high.”

The stakes are at their highest when talking about race. It’s not an easy thing to do. A slight intonation of an innocuous word, a glance, or even the wrong tone can trigger resentment among any of the participants.

Try these suggestions when you need to have difficult conversations about race on your campus.

Acknowledge and validate

You can’t talk about a problem until you recognize that the problem exists.

Acknowledgment means that you are willing to admit difficulty. By saying, “I can see that this is important to you,” you have recognized that another person has an idea to share. You can go a step further and validate that opinion by accepting their viewpoint. You might not agree with it, but you can accept it.

Seek to understand

One of the biggest challenges in addressing racism on campus and having difficult conversations is getting the right people involved in the discussion. Minorities are willing to discuss the problems, but getting the majority to join the conversation can be challenging.

Minority students have been made aware of diversity for so long that they have become more accustomed to talking openly about it. Diversity is not as troublesome for majority race students and faculty; it’s not always at the forefront of their thoughts like it is with other students.

It should be though. Until everyone seeks to understand racism, no critical conversations can take place.

Focus on inclusion and diversity

Engage in a dialogue with persons of a different color or race than you. By asking open-ended questions that allow them to provide insight, you’ll get a better understanding of how you can create inclusion.

Ask about people’s experiences with bias and racism. How have they felt excluded? Was there a time that inclusion removed the barriers to success? What needs to happen now?

Look for commonalities you share

Race makes us different from each other, but only a little bit.

There are plenty of things people of minority and majority races have in common. By looking for these commonalities, we can begin to focus on our real purpose for being on the campus. Sharing common goals and finding ways to collaborate in reaching them makes us all stronger. It is when we come together for the common good that we can focus on what matters most: making humankind greater than before.

A lofty goal like that can only happen if you’re willing to have difficult conversations about race on your campus.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 25, 2018

How Colleges Are Helping Undocumented Students

The national conversation centered on undocumented immigrants is not limited to the Capitol. Higher education plays a major role in the lives of undocumented students, and some colleges are making it a point to help those students find their way.

Colleges like Harvard, Georgetown, the University of Utah, San Diego State, and Western Washington University have quietly created resources and have provided sanctuary to students who are enrolled on their campuses but who don’t have papers.

The Rise of Sanctuary Campuses

As the political climate surrounding immigration and undocumented students has turned increasingly negative, with the suspension of programs like DACA, colleges have reacted, in part pushed by their student bodies.

The result has produced a culture of sanctuary campuses, which are similar in nature to sanctuary cities.

Sanctuary campuses are those that provide resources for undocumented students and the unique challenges they face from not receiving access to federal aid to immigration concerns. Some schools have also pledged not to coordinate with ICE or other immigration officials by keeping information private unless there is a warrant. Others have provided scholarships directed at this unique group of students.

However, unlike sanctuary cities, there is no legislation dealing with the issue of sanctuary campuses, and it is unclear whether the actions taken by these colleges and universities are legal.

Sanctuary Campuses Across America

Sanctuary campuses aren’t only those on coasts or the border. They include a wide range of universities across the country including:

Columbia University, New York University, Portland State University, University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan University, California Community Colleges, California State University, Florida International University, Princeton University, Syracuse University, Texas State University, University of California, University of Illinois, and the University of Miami.

The Future of Sanctuary Campuses

Many undocumented students enrolled at colleges are current members of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which the current administration recently announced it would end.

The DACA program provided colleges and universities comfort in providing resources, including aid, to students because it removed much of the risk, particularly for students who participated in the program.

The end of this program would create further legal questions for universities that have pledged to serve as sanctuary campuses as students who are undocumented and once protected begin to lose that protection on a rolling basis.

The question of sanctuary campuses will continue to remain unclear as immigration policy evolves. But one thing is clear: colleges and universities have inserted themselves into the debate – and they side with students.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 24, 2018

Will Artificial Intelligence Disrupt Higher Education?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the landscape of higher education.

According to Dr. Keng Siau, artificial intelligence will “perform an array of general tasks with consciousness, sentience and intelligence.” That could mean that higher education may no longer be the path to a professional career.

University degrees have always led to professional careers; AI may change that path and offer new forms of learning. Ultimately, AI will change the way colleges have approached education.

Complex data and collaboration

Artificial intelligence will disrupt higher education; there’s no doubt of that. Already AI has been assuming some of the more basics tasks in academia, such as grading, data analysis and seeking correlations.

So far these automatic tasks have been within a single university system, but there’s no reason to believe that AI will continue to function in the isolation of the ivory tower. AI will connect academia to other industries, performing elaborate cognitive processes that search for connections between a variety of fields.

Think transformation, not disruption

Disruption describes an abrupt change in a process. The result may or may not be better. Transformation, on the other hand, has the connotation of a more well-thought- out approach, like a change that gradually evolves into something better.

Change is never easy for anyone, but universities who choose not change may be left behind.

Universities have an opportunity to transform practices and adopt new artificial intelligence technology.

Global reach

With students more interested in personalized learning, AI has the potential to provide increased opportunities for learning to more students at one time. Made possible through adaptive learning, these new systems meet students at their last point in the learning continuum and take them forward.

Artificial intelligence can do more for a larger student population. Professors may already have two and three hundred students in a classroom, but they are not able to reach every student and meet his or her personal needs the way an AI adaptive learning program like ALEKS or a personalized program like Udemy can do.

Changing skill sets

AI won’t likely replace the instructional practices in higher ed, but it will redefine the way students learn. Expect a blended learning model that seamlessly integrates input from AI and professors.

That will change faculty skill sets, allowing more time for research and AI begins to take over the more banal tasks of classroom instruction.

Will artificial intelligence disrupt higher education? The answer is yes, and that’s a good thing. The disruption will force the acceleration of our cognitive thinking skills as we strive to stay ahead of the advance in AI.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 20, 2018

Are Universities Driving Racism?

Look at news reports or read your social media feed, and you’ll be convinced that racism is rampant on college campuses everywhere.

In reality, the number of reported incidents of racism has remained constant since the end of the twentieth century, when the Department of Justice first began collecting data on it. Since that time, college enrollment has increased significantly.

If racism has existed on college campuses for decades, are universities driving it?

University-driven racism

American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Michael Rubin suggests that universities have entrenched themselves in “identity politics and race-based theories.”

Rubin has theorized that higher education is purposefully establishing race as the single most critical variable in learning, regardless of the subject. By doing so, he says, universities are driving racism.

He’s not alone in his thinking. Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies, has also said that universities drive racism, claiming that it is institutional. It’s built into an antiquated curriculum that remains largely isolated from minority issues and interests.

According to Andrews, colleges are not doing enough to challenge racism when it occurs, and minority students are being victimized because of it.

In reality, colleges do more to eliminate racism than promote it.

Campus enrollment

Colleges purposefully seek diversity in their enrollments.

By bringing together students of different backgrounds, beliefs, and races, a university intentionally creates a milieu that will foster a deeper understanding of people. That’s a critically important skill to have, considering the growth of our global economy. People of diverse backgrounds are expected to work together and to learn from each other.

Many students at their universities will meet peers from diverse ethnic groups for the first time. Campuses recognize that there will be racial dissension. They also realize that racial tensions abate more quickly at schools with ethnically diverse populations.

Students at these schools learn to be more accepting of racial diversity and less tolerant of hate speech.

Recognizing racism

As a whole, campuses are seeing less prejudice in universities than in the past, but racism still exists. It takes the form of micro-aggressions, which are small behaviors or words that cause suffering, whether intentional or not.

Micro-aggressions are considered hostile, and universities work hard to help students understand how to recognize them and prevent their continuation.

How campuses address racism

Although racism continues to be a problem on university campuses, colleges are doing more than ever before to put a stop to it.

Students and have faculty have access to support groups, and schools teach classes on tolerance and diversity. Most importantly, many campuses help people of all races to participate in critical conversations about race.

Is it perfect? No, but hopefully campuses are driving racism right out of existence.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 16, 2018

How Colleges Nickel and Dime Students

College tuition rises at almost six percent above the national inflation rate. Yet, students aren’t just paying astronomical sums in tuition; colleges are also collecting millions in hidden charges either rolled up into tuition or assessed seemingly at random.

Some of these fees, like parking and activities fees, aren’t about to go away. But other fees, like $3,049 to choose a major in digital media and animation, are both egregious and esoteric.

What Are Hidden Fees?

Universities use hidden and additional fees as a way of hiding the price of college to entice more students while covering the cuts made by state legislatures.

For example, the University of Oklahoma charges a $3,324 “academic excellence fee” for every student; the money goes towards recruiting and paying faculty, which is the job of the school budget and the state government, not individual students.

These figures are damaging for all students, but they can be particularly horrifying for students who arrive at college with scholarships covering 100% of their tuition only to find university fees of $10,000 aren’t included.

Of course, receiving a five-figure bill for additional fees isn’t exactly nickel and diming, but it is a symptom of what colleges are trying to do to recoup the money being cut from state budgets. And they’re trying to do it without being transparent about what the fees are, who owes them, and why students should pay them.

An Epidemic of Confusing Fees

These fees aren’t limited to public universities suffering from funding cuts in conservative states. They are an epidemic across the nation and are sometimes far over the price of tuition itself. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the mandatory fees charged by the school cost six times more than in-state tuition.

These large mandatory fees aren’t the only way colleges are coming after students for more money.

Students are hit with other fees for “freshman counseling,” “undergraduate entering,” and strangely enough, one college levies a fee for a free HIV test. Paying fees can severely impact students’ finances, but not paying them can result in academic probation or even force them to drop out.

These fees are added for a few reasons. In some cases, states lock tuition in at a set rate regardless of increasing costs for universities, forcing schools to re-label increase in costs as fees. Additionally, “fee” is recognized as being more palatable than tuition increase, even when universities have the option to call a spade a spade.

Fees aren’t going away, but universities can aim to be more transparent about what they cost and what students get for paying them.

Has your school sent you a bill for surprising fees? Share your story in the comments below.