Higher Education

Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education

3 Ways to Reform College Debt

There aren’t many people who will dispute the value of a college education. College graduates tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction and quality of life. The cost of those efforts is steep for the individual though – to the tune of $35,200 college debt on average for 2013 graduates. On Wednesday I looked at the statistics associated with the cost and payoff of a college education and also some federal efforts to make those payments more affordable once a degree is earned. Today I want to look at some specific ideas that aim to bring down the initial cost of a college education and to help students avoid thousands in interest over time. Here are some of those ideas.

  1. S. Senator Marco Rubio has spoken about his own efforts in his home state of Florida, and perhaps on a federal level, to make college attendance a shared cost. Rubio is no stranger to college debt. When he arrived at the U.S. Senate, he still had $100,000 in outstanding student loans. Rubio has been upfront about his modest upbringing and also the power his education gave him but he has acknowledged that the cost is too high. The basics of his college plan would allow private investors to pay for the tuition of college students in exchange for a portion of their earnings later on. This would mean the students acquired no traditional debt and would not start out their careers in the hole – at least not in a typical way.

While I like the out-of-the-box thinking of this plan, it raises more questions than answers. At least when a student takes out a federally-backed loan or even a private one that meets federal regulations, there is some protection for the student. I worry that allowing too many private investors in on the college lending game could mean more financial pressure on the borrowers. And what happens if a student finds him or herself unemployed for a long period of time? Or unable to work due to injury? These are all issues that would certainly be addressed before legislation was drafted and approved but there are already some red flags that pop up in this hands-off government approach to college debt reform.

  1. Another college payment idea that is arising across the country is a state-run repayment program that is similar to Rubio’s private investor one. Already in Oregon the Pay It Forward program has been approved (though not yet enacted) that will give students their public college education upfront, free of cost, in exchange for paying the state a portion of their earnings post-college. Supporters bill it as a “debt free” alternative to a college education, but like Rubio’s plan there is still money owed at the end of the college term that does impact actual earnings. It will be interesting to keep an eye on Oregon in the coming years to see how the program impacts the first groups of students who take advantage of it.
  2. What if a public college education was completely free, though? That’s the approach Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam wants to take when it comes to the state’s community colleges. At his State of the State address, he called for free tuition at Tennessee’s community colleges in order to improve the state’s reputation as one of the least educated. Haslam proposed that the money to pay for it come from the state’s lottery earnings that would be placed in a $300 million endowment fund. While a short-term solution, I’m not sure that this is a sustainable payment plan. But if even one class of students in the state are able to take advantage of it, that may make a huge positive impact on Tennessee’s long-term economic outlook.

Paying something for a college education is reasonable, I think, but the current setup puts an undue burden on the nation’s young people and as a result, the entire economy suffers.

What creative cost and repayment options for a college education would you like to see implemented? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

How to use the Delta Model in higher education

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest post by Enrique Suarez

If Educational Institutions are to achieve success in the marketplace, they must begin to think about their business strategy in new ways. Traditional competitive approaches that rely on product differentiation do not produce optimal results, nor do they take advantage of new sources of profitability that the connectivity of a networked economy offers. Too often, they focus the attention in the wrong place.

To survive and prosper today, Educational Institutions must shift their attention from products to customers and create a business plan based on:

  • The innovative restructuring of your customer relationships
  • Segmenting your customers more creatively
  • Delivering a value proposition that places the customer at the center of your strategy

The research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has given rise to a powerful business model that reflects the many new ways to compete in the current economy. Called the Delta Model, it was designed to offer senior managers a fresh and pragmatic approach to critical strategic business thinking. This new, integrative, strategic framework presented by Enrique Suarez, allows educational managers to identify new sources of profitability, develop new strategic approaches, establish new directions for their educational institutions, and implement an enhanced strategic agenda.

This strategic framework will also allow Educational Institutions to gain pragmatic insights on how to:

  • Begin to change from a product-driven orientation to a customer-driven orientation
  • Utilize “complementors” to extend your enterprise network
  • “Decommoditize” the way you do business by strengthening your customer relationships

The First Task: Positioning The Foundations of Management Strategy

In the conventional, best product positioning approach to business strategy, the way to attract, satisfy, and retain the customer is through the inherent characteristics of the product itself. Managers are guided by product economics and measure their success in terms of product share. In contrast, MIT has developed a different model of business strategy based on customer economics. Called the Delta Model it was designed to identify better ways to compete in a networked economy and advocates an innovative, customer-centric approach to business strategy. I’ll examine the current state of critical business thinking at institutions of higher education and the Delta Model’s triangle of strategic options that make it possible for educational managers to craft more creative and effective business plans. These three options include:

System Lock-In – a broad-scope strategy that relies on a full network of meaningful contributors to create both customer lock-in and competitor lock-out and achieve the highest level of customer bonding. Those who are successful in reaching this position gain a de facto dominance of the market.

Total Customer Solutions – which emphasizes customer bonding through a portfolio of customized products and services that represent a unique and comprehensive value proposition to individualized customers. It is a 180 degree departure from Best Product positioning (see below) and requires a very different mindset.

Best Product – a more narrow option built on classic forms of competition and centered on the intrinsic superiority of a product or service, being first to market, or the differentiation of a so-called dominant design. Most companies are positioned here, with limited opportunities for customer bonding. System Lock-in, Total Customer Solutions, and Best Product are alternative options for achieving customer bonding and can be pursued simultaneously.

You can download the entire presentation in the following link:

https://www.academia.edu/8227956/How_to_use_the_Delta_Model_in_Higher_Educ

_____

Enrique Suarez has a Master’s of Education & International Development from Harvard University. Read more at http://www.com/suarezenrique/delta and contact him at [email protected].

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Diverse Conversations: Let’s Talk About Financial Aid

The Washington Post reports that the average college student will graduate with $25,000 in debt. With over $1 trillion in outstanding loans, student debt outweighs credit card debt and is exempt from bankruptcy protection. Even with these startling statistics, students will continue to borrow money in order to pay for college. College and university financial aid departments must operate at an optimal level in order to ensure that students have access to viable financial aid options and that federal regulations are followed. In order to find out more about the financial aid side of higher education, I decided to interview Steve Booker, director of financial aid at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Q: How do financial aid operations fit into your overall campus environment?

A: Financial aid is a critical piece in ensuring students who enroll at Rollins College are able to graduate on time. We work with families to plan out their four year college career and estimate total loan debt as well as out-of-pocket amounts. This way, we eliminate as much of the unknown costs as possible.

Q: How is your financial aid office perceived by your office, others on campus, and students?

A: Finances are personal and can be intimidating for families and students. As such, faculty and staff across campus are the first line of identifying potential issues through interactions with students. They often identify students who are struggling financially and help these students contact our office. When faculty and staff provide the introduction to the Financial Aid Office, students are more at ease and we can work together to find solutions.

Q: What is greatest challenge related to financial aid that you will face on your campus in the next five years? How is your institution preparing to address this challenge?

A: Our greatest challenge continues to be the rising cost of education and the lack of planning by many families. More families seek financial aid and need assistance. In
order to encourage more planning, our office visits local high schools for presentations as well as partners with programs such as Take Stock in Children and College for Every Student in order to get the word out about financial aid options earlier in a student’s education. The earlier we can raise the awareness of college and need for planning, the more options available to the family to save and prepare for the cost of college.

Q: What effects have state budget cuts had on your institution?

A: As a private institution, the state budget cuts impacted us a bit differently. Many of our students receive Bright Futures and/or the Florida Resident Access Grant (FRAG) which provide funding for Florida residents. Bright Futures has not risen as quickly as the cost of college and the test score requirements have increased significantly, which reduces the number of eligible recipients. FRAG has been reduced over the past few years, but is now steadily rising. These programs are important to our Florida residents and help reduce the amount of loans a student will borrow.

Q: What, if anything, can institutions do to stop the upward spiral of college costs and the increasing need for additional student aid funds?

A: Alternative delivery methods can help reduce certain costs. For example, online courses reduce the costs of transportation and potentially books. Also, providing information earlier to families including options to save can help families be in a better position at the point of college entry.

Q: Federal regulations stemming from a school’s participation in the federal student aid programs are increasingly reaching into other departments at a school (e.g., campus safety, admissions, records). How is your school making sure the entire institution is in compliance with these increasingly far-reaching regulations?

A: Through external and internal audits, we are able to stay on top of the reporting and disclosure requirements. In addition, the Office of Institutional Research provides a secondary check to ensure documents and notifications are available.

Q: How can a financial aid director raise the status of his or her office in the eyes of a college president?

A: Make sure that the Financial Aid Director either has a “seat at the table” or ensure that his/her direct supervisor is able to articulate the financial aid needs of the student body.

Q: If you were standing before Congress today, what would you want to tell them about student aid?

A: Financial aid is an important piece of the puzzle in bridging the gap between a family’s finances and the cost of higher education. Providing clear, concise, and accurate information for families to rely on and plan their educational career is critical. As a community, we need to reach families much earlier in elementary school in order to assist in the planning and preparation process. This should include incentives for families to save for higher education as well as provide a blueprint for children to succeed at each grade level. Recognizing the behaviors of academically successful students and breaking that down into achievable steps at each grade level (i.e., learning how to study, how to ask thoughtful questions) will provide opportunities for students to flourish.

This concludes my interview with Steve Booker. I would like to thank him for consenting to this interview.

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, list, Matthew Lynch, OpEducation

College Football: 6 Ways to See More African American Head Coaches

College football is arguably the most popular sport at the nation’s colleges and universities. Bringing in over $90 million annually in revenue at the highest grossing University of Texas, it is no wonder that school leaders view the football team as less of an extracurricular activity and more of a moneymaker. The revenue that is generated by college football programs only represents a small piece of the overall financial benefits. Schools with strong athletic programs, particularly in the area of football, bring in more prospective students and have larger booster groups in place.

With all that comes from college football programs, it would be nice to see more African American coaches in colleges. Here are the facts and solutions so that African Americans can enjoy this profession and the robust culture that comes with it.

  1. Of the 124 Division 1-A college football schools, only 15 had African American coaches in the 2012 season, according to an executive report by the Black Coaches Association. The Big Ten conference has seen zero black head coaches in the past 10 years.
  2. While head coaches are the most visible, support positions are severely underrepresented as well. Only 312 of 1,018 of college football assistant coaches are black and only 31 of 255 of offensive and defensive coordinators are African American. Combined, black football coaches and support staff represent a measly 5 percent of Football Bowl Subdivision numbers.

At Division II and Division III schools, diversity is even worse. The Black Coaches Association reports that in the 2012 season, only 9 schools of 113 in these two categories had head coaches of color. These numbers exclude historically black universities.

Despite the thousands of black college football players in recent decades, barely a handful has been trusted with leading teams. These ex-players obviously understand the game and know what college athletes face on the field — so what gives?

  1. Part of the problem is that schools are quick to dismiss coaches of all backgrounds when immediate improvement does not take place. The most recent high-profile example was the firing of Jon Embree by the University of Colorado in November. Floyd Keith of the Black Coaches Association called the firing a “disappointment” and wished that the school had given Embree a third season to prove himself. The school pointed to a 4-21 record over the course of two seasons as the reason for the firing but critics, like Keith, say that just two years is simply not enough time to turn a team around.
  2. Many critics are also quick to point out that white coaches with bad numbers are often still considered a hot commodity by other schools when they are on the market, whereas black coaches have historically been given just one shot to prove their talent.

It is also important to note that a college football coach does not have the same responsibilities as an NFL one. Winning is valuable to the university, but so are other aspects like graduation rates of players and team conduct. Both play an indirect role in the revenue the school is able to generate in future years by attracting new students. Yet with turnover rates of all college coaches rising every football season, a shift toward a “winning takes place on the field” mentality is evident.

So what can be done about this?

There is no disputing statistics when it comes to underrepresentation of African Americans in all levels of college football coaching. With so much being said about this issue, not much problem-solving has happened.

  1. Colleges and universities would do well to take a cue from the NFL when it comes to hiring minority coaches. Established in 2003, the Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate for all vacant head coaching positions and other executive football operation spots. After just three seasons, the Rooney Rule lead to an increase of 22 percent in the number of African American head coaches in the NFL and those numbers rise every season. A similar rule only makes sense in a college athletic setting, especially since so many other aspects of higher education use affirmative action programs to bolster diversity and opportunity.
  2. Another possible option is for schools to set up coaching mentorship programs for minority players that show leadership potential. An even better approach would be an NCAA-sanctioned program that seeks out talented players and gives them some exposure to coaching and maybe even a certificate program. These earmarked players could then begin working their way through the coaching ranks sooner and have a common knowledge base.

All changes need to be initiated by the NCAA, college athletics governing body. For a real dynamic shift to be felt across the board, every school needs to have the same diversity opportunities and rules as all the others. It is not enough to wish that more schools took a closer look at African Americans to fill head football coaching spots; an overarching game plan needs to be in place for true change to occur.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

How men benefit from family-friendly tenure policies

Kelly Bedard, University of California, Santa Barbara; Heather Antecol, Claremont McKenna College, and Jenna Stearns, University of California, Santa Barbara

On Friday, August 26, as we celebrate Women’s Equality Day – a day marking the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote – it is a time to reflect both on the progress that has been made on gender equality and on how much work still remains.

As academics, we are well aware that gender gaps continue to exist on American campuses. It is true that female students now outnumber male students, and also that more women earn professional degrees compared to men. But it is also true that only 28 percent of tenured faculty are women.

Tenure represents a permanent job contract. It usually takes about six or seven years of being on tenure track – a probationary period during which a junior professor’s publication record, teaching ability and departmental service are monitored and assessed – to get tenure.

In recent years, many research universities have adopted more “family-friendly” tenure rules aimed at helping women balance family and career. Our research shows that despite such policies, gender equality remains elusive in academia when it comes to tenure consideration. Rather, some of these policies are helping men, not women.

Gender-neutral tenure policies

For most people, the tenure process occurs during their late 20’s and early 30’s. These years typically align with women’s prime child-bearing years. This can hinder women’s research productivity and thus reduce their chances of earning tenure.

More generally, having children could reduce the probability of being promoted in a variety of professions. Women’s early career productivity could fall due to the time time spent in child bearing and child care.

However, the problem might be particularly acute at research universities where research productivity during the few years before the tenure decision is especially important.

Women’s productivity in early years of their careers could fall when they have children. John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Follow, CC BY-SA

In response, during the 1990s and 2000s many research institutions adopted “gender-neutral tenure clock-stopping policies.” These policies were intended to make it easier for women who have children to earn tenure.

The policies are gender-neutral: That is, they allow parents of either gender to avail their benefits. They allow new parents to extend their terms as assistant professors. They stop the tenure clock for one year for each new child, up to a maximum of two.

In other words, new parents get more time before they have to go up for tenure. These policies are independent of leave-taking, meaning that assistant professors can continue to work while gaining the extra time on their tenure clocks.

The idea is to allow new parents to make up for lost research time. And also, so women and men should not need to sacrifice family for career, and vice versa.

Are these policies equitable?

We recently conducted a study, “Equal but Inequitable: Who Benefits from Gender-Neutral Tenure Clock Stopping Policies,” on these tenure clock-stopping policies.

Our study focuses on economics professors – a very male-dominated field. A 2014 survey by the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) shows that in economics, women constitute 30 percent of assistant professors, 23 percent of tenured associate professors and only 12 percent of full professors.

Gender-neutral policies are believed to reduce stigma about use by encouraging male participation, at least with regard to economics faculty. We believe one of the primary reasons universities have adopted gender-neutral policies is that there was low take-up under policies that only applied to women.

However, we found no evidence that they have helped women earn tenure.

In fact, we found the policy – designed to help women get tenure – instead raised male tenure rates, at least in top economics departments.

The probability of a man getting tenure in his first job increased by 19 percentage points after such a policy was adopted. By contrast, the probability of a female academic getting tenure fell by 22 percentage points.

We believe male publication rates rise with the extra time, but female publication rates do not.

So, these gender-neutral policies are equal in the sense that they give the same benefit to women and men who have children. But they are inequitable in that the time cost (or productivity loss) experienced by men and women is quite different.

For example, it is women who become pregnant, experience morning sickness, give birth and breastfeed. As such, we believe, giving an equal extension without an equal productivity loss might better be described as unequal. And it is certainly less than clear that it will level the playing field in terms of tenure rates.

Why there is a need to rethink

Although our results represent a single discipline, they certainly raise concerns that this could be a problem across a broad range of fields. Female tenure rates are lower across almost all academic disciplines. In science disciplines, men who have children before tenure are 24 percentage points more likely to earn tenure compared to women with children. And in the humanities and social sciences, men with children are 20 percentage points more likely to earn tenure.

Our results suggest we might want to rethink these policies. One of the arguments in favor of “gender-neutral clock-stopping” policies stems from women having been discouraged – by their male colleagues – from taking advantage of policies that apply to mothers only.

Why extending the same benefits to men and women is not equitable. Penn State, CC BY-NC

Our research findings, based in the discipline of economics, do raise the question whether extending equal benefits to men and women is equitable in practice. We also don’t know if these policies had a similar effect in other disciplines with different publication requirements.

While it is easy to instruct the people making tenure decisions to ignore the additional time on the tenure clock, it is not as easy to know how it actually affects their thinking about the tenure case and hence their evaluation.

Need family-friendly policies

In theory, gender-neutral policies that attempt to level the playing field by adjusting measures of productivity to account for early child-rearing sound promising. However, as our research shows, such policies could have unintended consequences that actually hurt women.

We believe university administrators need to reopen the discussion on tenure policies, and the extent to which these benefits are extended to men and women.

But universities are not the only places where family-friendly policies may have unintended consequences. Lawyers, financial professionals and doctors are also likely to be promoted based on early measures of success. Evidence shows family gaps in each of these professions, especially among top earners.

As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, let us emphasize the need for more family-friendly policies to create a more level playing field for high-skill professionals who face rigid and important promotion decisions early in their careers.

The Conversation

Kelly Bedard, Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara; Heather Antecol, Boswell Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna College, and Jenna Stearns, Ph.D. Student, University of California, Santa Barbara

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

Successfully attaining a degree online is all about flexibility

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Jason Henry

Higher education is supposed to serve as a way out of poverty. From the school house to the White House, education is used as nomenclature for economic prosperity.

It’s how President Barack Obama ascended to leader of the free world and how so many Americans are able to attain the American dream.

It’s also why many low-income individuals enroll in schools that advertise the ability to graduate from college by way of the internet. A promise from many for-profit institutions, as well as non-profit ones, that a work around to an individual’s already hectic life was possible.

But with higher education often comes higher debt because so many low-income individuals need financial aid to attend. For-profit colleges and universities are often classified as private and have astronomical tuition prices.

Even with high numbers and scrutiny from the United States Department of Education, gaining a college degree is still likely the best way to climb out of poverty.

By way Medium.com, the author of an op-ed shows just how well online education is doing and how many students are at least participating in acquiring an education digitally.

It’s all due to flexibility and what students actually need versus what higher education facilities believe they need.

“When students taking the ACT college readiness exam were allowed to send four free copies of their results to colleges instead of three, poorer students used the extra test to apply to schools where admittance wasn’t a sure thing, and often got in to these ‘stretch’ schools.”

Students of the past who were considered successful likely had the ability to be flexible, e.g. going to class without having to work or worry about paying the next bill. While some students were able to pull through college by working and paying bills, many weren’t so lucky.

Affording flexibility to today’s students by working with them and around varying work schedules is not just a win for the student because that person is more likely to graduate, but it shows growth in how we view online education and what it’s doing for our students.

_____________

Jason Henry is a burgeoning writer and locally recognized political analyst in Orlando and Birmingham. You can read his blog The Jason Henry Project on the hypeorlando network.

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Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

4 Ways Colleges Can Close the Achievement Gap

There’s a lot of talk in P-12 learning about how exactly to best close the achievement gap, or the space that separates traditionally advantaged students with those who have historically been at-risk where academics are concerned. By the time students get to college, the emphasis shifts slightly to focus more on the diversity of who is on a university campus and less on outcomes. Without the stringent assessments that are now synonymous with the P-12 process, colleges have an easier time simply making appearances when it comes to the true success of all students on their campuses.

This isn’t to say that there is no accountability – several independent associations and often the colleges themselves release data on graduation rates, post-grad employment rates, and even the amount of debt incurred by students. Yet when it comes to truly closing the achievement gap between students from all life backgrounds, ethnicities and races, P-12 institutions seem to be held to a higher standard than their 13 – 20 counterparts. This is not only a disservice to the students, but to the American population as a whole that then misses out on enjoying the innovation, advancement and prosperity that comes with a more highly educated public.

So how can colleges step up their game when it comes to closing the achievement gap?

  1. It’s only been in the last decade or so that colleges have begun to recognize that different students need different guidance to reach that graduation podium. It’s why a crop of programs designed for first-generation and minority college students are flourishing across the country. These initiatives run the gamut – from recruiting these students, to providing intense mentorship programs, to partnering with community businesses for job placement. Targeting the guidance of students based on their backgrounds is vital to getting them their degrees and all of this conscientious hard work by universities is certainly making a dent when it comes to higher achievement from traditionally at-risk college students.
  2. Overall colleges are doing a better job in recent years of providing a full career arc before students set foot on campus. This gives them an idea of what to expect when it comes to the courses they will take, the mentorship programs available, the potential for internships, and the job placement initiatives. For students who are putting their working lives on hold to obtain a college degree, a greater understanding of what that means in long-term financial terms is necessary to convince them the leap to college life is a good one.
  3. For all of the strides college recruiting programs have made, there is still an overarching theme that recruiting new students is an isolated process. Get the kids on campus, then move on to the next batch. In reality, recruiting should be a very small part of a larger strategy that not only brings students of varied backgrounds to campus, but sustains them until graduation. Some schools are improving in this regard, but there’s still a lot of work needed to flip this mentality from one of solitude to solidarity with other student help groups.
  4. The need for an affordable college education is mentioned so often that it seems that we are all becoming desensitized to it. The reality is that having affordable college, not just providing loans to students, will go a long way towards helping close the achievement gap. Initiatives like providing the first two years of community college for free to qualifying students, and even student loan forgiveness programs for high-demand jobs, are a few ways that the dream of a college degree can become more accessible to minority, first-generation and other at-risk students.

There’s a reason to pay so much attention to closing the achievement gap in P-12 classrooms: a better educated public means a stronger economy, greater industry competition on a global scale, and an overall better quality of life for all citizens. It is high time colleges stepped back from their diversity plans long enough to question whether those efforts are truly doing enough to close the country’s achievement gap for life. Continued targeted guidance throughout the college process, improved recruiting, and a bigger push for affordable college are a few ways that the U.S. college and university landscape can step up its efforts for equality in higher education achievement.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, HBCU's, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Reasons to Embrace Diversity on College Campuses

It’s easy to think of college campuses as islands – academic havens with little interaction with the greater world beyond. In reality, the work done on the grounds of colleges and universities has a big impact on society, from medical breakthroughs to mass adoption of social change. It’s important then that U.S. institutions of higher learning are representative of society as a whole in their student bodies and staff. That’s easier said than done, of course, but multicultural representation on college campuses should be a top priority.

Beyond the boost a multicultural campus brings to the immediate student and faculty body, there are some things they can bring to the “real” after-college world too. Here are three of them.

1. It can help us eliminate the wage gap. There is a gender wage gap and there is a minority wage gap. Unless you are a white male, you are probably making less than white males who do the same job as you. Some argue that the wage gap doesn’t exist but statistics show otherwise. The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that women make 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the U.S. The racial pay gap varies but in industries like technology, minority workers make $3,000 to $8,000+ less than white counterparts.

Even if these numbers are not 100 percent accurate, they are telling of an overarching problem with the American workforce: people are not paid equally. By having more diversity in the amount of highly educated workers, Americans have a better shot at getting rid of the nasty wage gap for good. Not only will these educated workers be more apt to ask for what they are worth, but it stands to reason that more diversity will emerge in positions of leadership (i.e. – those that make salary decisions). Feeding diversity into the professional workforce goes a long way toward pay equality and ups the standard of living for minorities and women.

2. It can help us get rid of discrimination. Racial tensions have spiked in the past year or so around the country, accented by the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City. Though a lot of people like to believe that discrimination is no longer an issue in the U.S., these incidents and reactions to them highlight just how much more work needs to be done to eliminate prejudices, injustice and discrimination between races.

In my experience, it is easier to judge and alienate hypothetical people that you have never actually met. Once you’ve spent some time with the very people you once judged, it becomes more difficult not to view them as equals. Unfortunately when it comes to our nation’s public schools, diversity is difficult to achieve in districted areas. Kids go to school alongside their neighbors – people who often look like them, have a similar socioeconomic background, and who have the same basic life experience. Colleges and universities are able to break out of this mold and can be the first pass at diversity students experience. It’s important to maximize that opportunity by making sure not just campuses, but individual programs, are well represented with students from a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. It is harder to discriminate against a friend and colleague than a nameless ideal of a person.

3. It can help us become more competitive on the world stage. The more ideas brought to a discussion, the better the chance of a good one. When a variety of perspectives are pooled, innovation and creativity emerge. Nations like Japan have always had an academic edge but Americans often win out because of the one thing that just can’t be taught: visionary thinking. When everyone brings the same experience to a problem, there will be less ways to solve it. A diverse college body means a more diverse workforce after graduation. This helps EVERYONE. When the U.S. succeeds on the world stage, Americans all benefit.

Diversity matters on college campuses and not just for the benefit of those institutions. Could the next generation of college grads be the one to help the U.S. surge ahead of world competitors through collective creativity? To eliminate the wage gap? To put an end to discrimination? All of these accomplishments are on the horizon in the U.S. – and colleges and universities can give them all a boost by fostering multiculturalism and diversity on campuses.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, HBCU's, Higher Education

Diverse Conversations: The role universities play in societal progress

Interview conducted by Matthew Lynch

Universities are usually credited with being centers for progress in society, with the perfect combination of youthful optimism and the encouragement of the quest of knowledge. With a total student population of more than 110,000 between eight campuses, Indiana University is instrumental in setting the tone for progress in the state and the surrounding region.

With all of the attention lately on Indiana Governor Mike Pence signing the Religious Freedom Act, essentially giving business owners the option of not serving people who do not align with their own religious beliefs, the voice of IU and other colleges in the state are more important than ever.

Dr. James C. Wimbush is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs and the Dean of the University Graduate School at Indiana University. The goal of the DEMA office is to “foster an inclusive environment that promotes and nurtures diversity, broadly defined on all campuses of Indiana University.” This is accomplished by strategically focusing on three critical areas:

  • recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, and recruitment, retention, and timely completion of undergraduate and graduate students;
  • promotion of a welcoming and positive campus climate;
  • engagement in outreach and advocacy locally and nationally.

I asked Dr. Wimbush about the vital role IU plays in diversity progress in the state, and where he sees initiatives heading in the next few years.

Question: Describe the cultural landscape/demographics at Indiana University.

Answer: In Fall 2014, IU Bloomington witnessed a landmark event for the first time enrolling 1,042 new students who identify as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or as multiracial. The number of African-American students increased approximately 7 percent and Hispanic students by 10 percent. We are seeing some progress, but recognize that there is much more to do.

Q: In 2013, IU joined Freedom Indiana to take a stand supporting same-sex marriage. Since then, the school has come out against Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. What important role do colleges and universities play in progressing society on issues like this?

A: Important societal concerns such as the one we faced last year create opportunities for the University to advocate for issues that might otherwise have a deleterious effect on our community and university. We feel it is appropriate and essential to take a stand on these types of issues.

Following Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, IU’s President Michael A. McRobbie released a statement reaffirming the university’s commitment to hiring, promoting and educating without regard for age, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or other often-discriminatory factors. That statement also urged state lawmakers to take another look at the RFRA and to reverse its discriminatory stance. My office firmly stands behind President McRobbie’s statement and plans to keep IU moving toward greater progress for the entire state on these and other issues of equality.

Q: Is being positioned in the Midwest helpful or hurtful to diversity? How do you make a predominantly white institution like IU more diverse, year by year?

A: We are always looking at recruitment opportunities within and outside the state of Indiana to try to attract a more diverse student, faculty and staff population. We do this in a number of ways including participation in recruitment fairs and building and nurturing relationships with our external partners. While recruitment is a responsibility of the Office of Enrollment Management within Indiana University, we work closely with them to help support their efforts. We have been working with schools and school systems to create a pipeline from K-12 classrooms to Indiana University.

Q: How does Indiana University recruit diverse faculty? 

A: Our Bloomington campus has a strategic recruitment fund designed to help with the recruitment of minority faculty and senior women underrepresented in their fields. Minority or women candidates for an opening can be flagged as qualifying for this funding, which covers 75 percent of base salary for underrepresented minorities and 50 percent of base salary for women in select fields where they are underrepresented. The funds for the salary are transferred to the department where the person is employed for as long as they work at the university. Last year, the program was revamped resulting in a hearty yield of underrepresented minority hires. Out of approximately 80 new faculty hires on the Bloomington campus for the 2014/2015 academic year, we were able to use the strategic recruitment fund to hire 11 underrepresented minority faculty members.

Q: What diversity/multi-cultural initiatives are in the works at IU?

A: We have a number of initiatives underway that we are excited to share that include increased funding to our Group Program that assists low-income, first-generation students. The program has been in place since 1968 and used to be funded one year at a time; that has switched to four years at a time. We are also developing a program in conjunction with Indianapolis Public Schools to streamline K-12 students to the campus of Indiana University. We are also continuing to cultivate our relationship with the nationally renowned Stax Music Academy of Memphis that trains middle-school and high-school musicians through after-school and summer camp programs. We have already seen applications to IU for fall 2015 admission from this initiative.

We are also currently expanding our network of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to enhance recruitment. We have recently added the GLBT Support and Services Center as one of our culture centers within my office. This past academic year we held highly successful diversity-oriented receptions at IUPUI and all the regional campuses. Attendance comprised of campus and community constituents.

We place tutors in all the culture centers, which include tutoring sessions on evenings and weekends. We will continue radio and digital campaigns targeting underrepresented populations in central Indiana and the communities where IU campuses are located. We are beginning a collaboration with the Maurer School of Law for qualified students in Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs programs who are interested in a law degree to receive pre-law mentoring from the School, and if admitted to Maurer, to receive substantially reduced tuition.

I’d like to thank Dr. Wimbush for this insight and for taking the time to share his expertise on the role IU, and other colleges, play in promoting diversity in their home states.

 

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, HBCU's, Higher Education, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Easy Ways to Get Enthusiastic Donations from HBCU Alumni

Anyone following Historically Black Colleges and Universities knows that the past few years have been tumultuous. Saint Paul’s College has closed its doors to new students and placed current students at other schools. Morris Brown College has filed for federal bankruptcy protection. Most recently, the nation’s oldest HBCU, 119-year-old South Carolina State University, declared financial exigency.

Between schools being shuttered or declaring bankruptcy, it’s a distressing time for HBCUs and anyone attending or working at them. Online colleges, robust diversity programs at predominantly white institutions and more affordable community college offerings are all competing for the students who once could really only find a quality education at a HBCU.

Finding ways to keep these institutions thriving is more important than ever. That includes one part of financial responsibility that I believe is being overlooked: alumni giving.

HBCU graduates are some of the proudest in the country, often with a stronger sense of social responsibility than their PWI-graduate peers. Yet HBCUs aren’t doing a strong enough job tying that pride back into alumni giving programs. Case in point: Harvard raised a record-breaking $752 million in alumni and other gifts in the fiscal year 2013. And HBCU “black Ivy League” Spelman College saw just $157.8 million ($20 million from alumni) during its Every Woman Every Campaign in 2013 that was a special, targeted campaign beyond normal annual endeavors.

Perhaps comparing Harvard’s financial gifts to any other school isn’t completely fair, but it does give an idea of what HBCUs are up against in the non-elite college market. If Spelman, considered the “best” HBCU, can only bring in one-fifth of the giving of Harvard in a year when Spelman aggressively went after donations, what does that say for every other HBCU?

An even better question is this: What can HBCU alumni giving campaigns improve upon to bring in more dollars to benefit their current crop of students?

Here are three ways for HBCUs to encourage their alumni to give back more.

  1. Make college affordable.

Even the best college education will come with resentment attached once a student has to start paying back those burdensome loans. HBCUs have a better shot at alumni giving back once a college education is paid off, so why not make that debt burden lighter? HBCUs have some of the best statistics when it comes to financial aid in the form of Pell grants and scholarships and these institutions should continue to push for the funding to make obtaining a degree affordable – particularly for minority and first-generation college students. More money in these graduates’ pockets will translate into more alumni giving in the early years following graduation.

  1. Personalize giving.

I don’t know about you, but getting a standard alumni giving form in the mail with a return envelope does not usually inspire me to pull out my checkbook. The same is true of emails without much personality. Instead of just asking for the money, HBCUs need to put faces and causes along with the requests. What are some of the upcoming projects that this money could go towards? Who will receive scholarships from this giving? Even non-glamorous giving campaigns that go towards basic infrastructure have a better shot of meeting goals if alumni are informed of what money is being solicited to do. HBCU alumni who can associate their own positive memories with money-making campaigns are more likely to want to be a part of making those things happen.

  1. Get alumni involved before they leave campus.

Don’t wait until students are off campus to solicit them for help facilitating the college experience of the classes who follow them. Cash in on the good feelings that accompany graduation time from both the students earning degrees and their families. Even those who don’t have much may be willing to give a little to keeping the college dream alive for other students who are still trying to accomplish their academic goals. Set up a table outside commencement with giving forms and other alumni information. Have literature that explains to students how alumni giving dollars have facilitated what they’ve enjoyed while on campus. Send out an email blast to soon-to-be graduates that invites them to visit the alumni website, like its Facebook page, and join its official club. Don’t wait to chase alumni down after they’ve left; rope them in before they leave and keep them active in the coming years.

Just as HBCUs have a responsibility to get their students workforce-ready, alumni have a responsibility to give back to their institutions. HBCUs need to do a better job of conveying that and encouraging former students to step up to the plate.

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

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