Create a free Diverse: Issues In Higher Education account to continue reading. Already have an account? Enter your email to access the article.

‘Tough Love’ Urged in Higher Education Reform Plan

Michael Dannenberg, director of higher education and education finance policy at The Education Trust and a co-author of the report, said not enough attention is paid to institutions that “perform at very poor levels.”Michael Dannenberg, director of higher education and education finance policy at The Education Trust and a co-author of the report, said not enough attention is paid to institutions that “perform at very poor levels.”An estimated 600,000 college students attend four-year institutions whose six-year graduation rates fall below 15 percent and at which three out of 10 students incurring student loan debt will eventually be unable to repay their loans, reports The Education Trust advocacy organization in a study released Wednesday.

In “Tough Love: Bottom-Line Quality Standards for Colleges,” Education Trust researchers take aim at four-year institutions falling within the bottom 5 percent of colleges on student success metrics of graduation and student loan repayment rates. The report presents a comprehensive plan that recommends the federal government use student aid and tax benefits as levers to spur underperforming schools to improve graduation rates and loan repayment performance.

In addition, a segment of elite and wealthy institutions that enroll very few low-income and working-class students comes under scrutiny in the report and the plan recommends federal measures focused on prodding such institutions into enrolling higher numbers of economically disadvantaged students.

In all, The Education Trust estimates that $15 billion in federal student aid funding is distributed annually to roughly 300 institutions that do not serve students well. These four-year schools fall within a bottom 5 percent national ranking of schools for the enrollment of low-income and working-class students; for graduating the students they serve; and for enrolling students who leave college with manageable debt.

“We don’t spend enough time and attention to institutions that are not only underperforming their peers … with similar characteristics but grossly underperform their peers and perform at very poor levels,” said Michael Dannenberg, director of higher education and education finance policy at The Education Trust and a co-author of the report.

Dannenberg explained that, with the federal government’s $180 billon annual support of U.S. higher education, there is “virtually no consideration of institutional performance on access, success, or student loan repayment measures” with regard to how individual schools are allocated funding.

“Students who are receiving federal financial aid to get a college education should, at the very least, be guaranteed that their school meets minimum performance standards. And taxpayers providing generous financial aid and tax benefits to elite institutions, ranging from Yale to the University of Virginia, should be guaranteed that these institutions are working to correct socioeconomic inequities, rather than calcify them,” he said.

The trusted source for all job seekers
We have an extensive variety of listings for both academic and non-academic positions at postsecondary institutions.
Read More
The trusted source for all job seekers