College funding: Does it make sense to fund campuses based on whether students earn their degrees?
Georgia will now fund colleges based on completion rates rather than enrollment rates. (AJC/file photo)
Reflecting the national trend to outcomes-based education funding, Georgia’s public colleges will now earn dollars based on how many students earn diplomas rather than how many enroll.
Tennessee has led the nation in this effort, eliminating enrollment as a funding criteria for its public colleges. (For a story on the Tennessee funding formula and how it works, go here.)
To look at Tennessee’s actual program, go to this state presentation. This Tennessee Higher Education Commission presentation includes actual data for colleges and details the weighting formula.
“The outcomes-based funding formula bases the entire institutional allocation of state appropriations on the basis of outcomes including degree production, research funding and graduation rates at universities, and student remediation, job placements, student transfer and associates degrees at community colleges,” according to the commission.
I attended a presentation last year on the Tennessee formula where I learned that all state funding is back up for grabs every year. No institution is entitled to any minimal level of appropriation based on prior-year funding. State appropriations have to be earned anew each year. The goal was to to stop rewarding campuses for enrollment growth — for getting students in the door — and reward them instead for getting students out the door with degrees.
The Complete College Tennessee Act was only passed in 2010 so it is too early to assess its impact on grad rates but colleges are taking student advisement more seriously. Here is a PolitiFact Tennessee review of the changes already visible on Tennessee campuses.
Ultimately, it is students who earn degrees, and therefore I believe that the source of Tennessee’s problems with graduation and retention rates lie largely in the student’s own individual histories – the personal and financial obstacles that they face, and their lack of adequate academic preparation for college level work. Although we may have only limited influence on the former, we can address the preparation of students en masse if we can generate a cultural shift in our state. We must create an “education culture,” where educational achievement is given the highest priority at every level of society, from teachers and students to parents and, yes, political leaders. If political leaders wish to contribute to the creation of such a culture, they must, as the saying goes, “put their money where their mouth is,” and increase educational investment across the board in our state.
Now, Georgia is following Tennessee’s lead.
According to the AJC:
A commission appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal approved a new formula Wednesday that links the state funding colleges receive to their improving student success and the number of degrees or certificates awarded. The plan, which won’t go into effect for a couple of years, represents a drastic shift from the current system that focuses on enrollment and how many credits students take, with little attention paid to whether they ever graduate.
The new formula is one of a series of steps Georgia is taking that acknowledges the state’s economic future depends on colleges producing a more skilled workforce to attract and keep employers. The formula is “important to the future direction of our state, ” Deal told the commission. “This actually is probably one of the most important final pieces in the puzzle.” Deal will officially receive the formula report before the end of the year, and the change does not require approval from the state Legislature.
The 2015 fiscal year allotment will provide a base funding moving forward, said Kristin Bernhard, Deal’s education policy adviser. Starting with the 2016 fiscal year, colleges would earn or lose money based on whether they improve. So far, Tennessee is the only state where 100 percent of public college funding is tied to outcomes. Nearly a dozen states are working on plans to tie at least some portion, if not all, of college funding to performance goals.
Georgia’s new formula ties funding to how well students progress through college and the number of degrees awarded. While progression is rewarded, the formula focuses on “outcomes, ” such as the number of certificates awarded by technical colleges and the number bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees awarded by research universities such as the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Colleges can receive extra money if they succeed with students who are known to struggle the most in school. This incentive money is tied to adult learners, who are 25 or older, and low-income students, as measured by those who receive the federal Pell Grant. Schools may also be rewarded for how well they meet certain initiatives that help Georgia’s workforce needs. Specifics are still being determined, but the technical colleges may want to consider work placement, while universities may focus on the number of science, math, technology and engineering graduates, Bernhard said.
The formula will determine how much money the state allocates to the two systems. The systems will still decide how to divvy up that lump sum among their colleges. Georgia spends about 11 percent of its state budget on public colleges, but only 44 percent of students attending a public four-year college graduate in six years. Projections show that by 2020 about 60 percent of jobs will require education after high school, although only 42 percent of Georgians meet that standard.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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110 comments Add your comment
Ole Guy
December 16th, 2012
4:32 pm
OK Guys, lets knock off the crapin around. Your assessments of my background and character are of little interest to me, however, for the sake of perspective, howbout we share some fact:
At this point in my life, I am both thrilled and humbled to be able to command the wage and perks I do for what is, essentially, part time/on-call work. Sometimes, I feel like the 50’s character, Clark Kent who, emerging from the telephone booth, transformed from the mild-mannered individual he was into the man with the cape. I take these periodic trips, as I now do, temporarily escaping the retired life only to resume, in a few days, the docile life of a Cobb County retiree. I live a somewhat docile life in a docile Cobb County house which can only be euphamistically described as an East Cobb DIY with a shaggy lawn and leaky water pipes. I drive an ole beat up clunker which is not that much newer than my college ride; when I travel, either for pleasure or for work, I wear beat up jeans and carry my stuff in bags just a little more classy than the plastic ones at Kroger.
Why am I going into such detail? Private, your remark about the “I got mine thing ” pisses me off. Sure, after a lifetime of both successes and abject failures, I have managed to emerge somewhat intact and in (mostly) one piece. I grew up in the post-war 50s…an era of hope punctuated by the innocence of Leave it to Beaver and Popeye. That innocense was (generationaly) torn by the harsh realities of assasination, public unrest over an unpopular war, and the stark reality that we (generationaly) would soon be obliged to shoulder that war.
As we (generationaly) became young adults, we were faced with, among other things, financial difficulty, the fear of STD, and the discovery that Santa Clause wasn’t going to make it all go away…WE, and WE alone were going to have to grapple our problems, come to terms with them, and DEAL with them.
Now that we are able to sit upon the easy chair of a fruitful life well-spent (for the most part), you start crying and wailing the “You got your’s” song of self-pity…it is this very mode of self-destruction which you probably initiated years ago and which you now proudly (sic) pass on to your kids.
Tough times is NOT a new concept only recently discovered by a generation too damn spoiled to understand. My Dad; his Dad, and the generations which carved this land all knew what adversity is. My personal experience has been a bitter sweet agregate of challenge and the motivation to overcome. The current gen, which I suspect you may have been an early part of, knows only “the good stuff”. You piss an moan when faced with such terrible travesty as the batterys in your electronic toys running dry…and you then ascribe my generations’ well-being to “You got yours” narcicism. Like piss ants, you can only quible an quake over a mis-spelled word or two; deep down, you hold only animosity toward those who, in your feeble assessments, have it better. The fact is, we don’t have it better, we only know how to “make lemonade out of lemmons” while you can only suck on that lemmon because you do not (and probably will never) know any better.
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
5:19 pm
but Ole Guy, you do “have yours.” You have a home and you’re not sunk in debt. The average debt for college grads is $25k. I mean, that is the average for each and every one of them. That means some have zero and some have $100k. You do “have yours” and you “got yours” without debt slavery as your next best friend, faithful dog at your side, so thrilling especially as you start your career if one can even get decent hire today. The average salary for a Harvard grad (!) is $54k. After taxes, it’s not 54k in spending money either. Point is, good for you, but conditions are very different today for persons attending college. I’ve had excellent classes at a cost of $200. for the class, while paying $200./month for an apartment. Well, recently I had a completely mechanistic bogus class, did not even meet anyone in the class or the instructor/professor/whatever and the class cost $900. Point is, I think the debt slavery is a serious matter. I think we’re getting run like dogs on a track. It’s your business what you think, but I was just pointing out you went into “well I don’t know anything about that” mode, which seem to be pretty standard for persons of a certain generation who even refuse to recognise the conditions young people are under today. If the prior generations abandon you and don’t even care to look out for you, what do expect the young people to be like? Need I reference that recently is the first time in U.S. history that college graduates are economically going backwards from the standing of their family? This is documented, not my opinion. USA has little upward mobility now and work hard does not mean getting ahead. Statistically. Factually. I’m not going to go find it and link and all of that but it is out there: standard of living going backwards, statistical low point of mobility. I sure wish Americans would start standing up for themselves or make competition or something. Check this out, from the monopolist. It’s like a practical joke or something. These two are sociopathic liars performing a little skit: http://money.cnn.com/video/magazines/fortune/2012/12/13/ldrshp-comcast-3.fortune At least I can recognise monopoly and know its effect- low output and high price. Why is no one paying attention? And the preppers just want to hide and go “boo-rah!” they too take little responsibility. It is like USA has turned to narcissism. I mean Ole Guy, Georgia school children don’t even have eyeglasses for themselves but anyone of means is so busy standing in line at the Olive Garden for their lunch party, they could care less. And I’ve dined with plenty of teachers just as that and they could certainly care less. It is bizarre, the lack of uptake. Their brains seem to stop at “Appleby’s or Olive Garden?” hey, you should see the 4 part series “Century of the Self.” You can “Google” it, if you like. It’s pretty long, maybe some parts of it are better than others.
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
5:28 pm
I have managed to emerge somewhat intact and in (mostly) one piece.
Well, I’ve got about ten friends where that is not the case for them. The best school teacher I know lives in a little apartment, will probably never be a homeowner, and drives a worn out car. Another teacher friend, oh yes he is a homeowner, since he moved from another state, cleaned out his retirement fund there and put the down payment on a house. So he has a house, a house payment and payments on $50k of student debt. The roof is worn out on his house. With the house payment and the school loan payment, he really does not have enough left to put a roof on his house, in other words to do house maintenance. Putting a student loan payment in the mix takes a lot out of quality of life. There will be at least one or two entire generations working in this situation. Oh, doube up? Do extra? Get a second job! Carpentry on the weekends! Not with the current workload. And you have to work at least one half day of the weekend either catching up or planning ahead and there is always those weekend emails telling you things to do for the coming week.
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
5:30 pm
“DEAL with it.” What, move to Argentina?
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
5:36 pm
Tough times is NOT a new concept
But you know what, Ole Guy, there’s a difference in “tough times” and debt slavery. They’re not the same thing, they do not play out the same, and they do not remedy the same. And we’ve had like, 15 years of recession now? I remember in 03 when the labor market was so tight, it was like a drum head. Our recessions last longer that all of WW2 and then quickly happen again and last as long again. It’s weird. Stores going out business. New shopping mall built, then boarded up within 5 years. New construction boarded up! like a slum! And college students taking on debt to go to school and have no choice! Systematically! Systematic exploitation of higher ed! Opportunity found! Like charging every household an extra dollar for their internet or water bill, somebody is going to get very rich from it. and somebody is going to pay pay pay.
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
5:49 pm
I sound like I’m whining but there has been many a day I am glad I got my BA degree completed before the current era, and I feel for those who are in a different circumstance that me from when I could work and pay cash for rent, tuition, and books. I could not do so now, the terms have changed. Earning are down and costs have doubled. Why was I paying rate and now costs have doubled? And I do not mean inflation, I mean per the value of the dollar, earning, etc. today’s costs are double to obtain college attendance and credits from I paid, maybe 4x what Ole Guy paid.
Ole Guy
December 16th, 2012
6:18 pm
Guys, I am in complete agreement that the environment these kids find themselves is tough; it doesn’t serve them well for us to deny this. And yes, I see a great many elders who, for any of a number of reasons, must work into their golden years. I see it in the hotels; I see it in the airport parking lots throughout the Country, and I am reminded just how fragile good fortune is…that it could vanish in the flash of an eye. I’ve gone from the tool box to the brief case and back so many times, with a few stops at the min wage department, so I completely understand the sad reality that life can toss poo poo in one’s face indiscriminantly and with little warning. Indeed, I to get pissed off at the notion of a society too concerned with their places in the Red Lobster line to give a second thought to the travails of others. I had a motor scooter in high school…one of them sexy Vespas upon which the honeys loved to ride side saddle. One Saturday morn, I pulled into the neighborhood gas station to find one of my teachers pumping gas (believe it or not, gas stations used to do that as a matter of routine). It was then and there that I realized that life is NOT always fair; that, for whatever reason, we must always face the very real possibility that we may have to keep returning to the trenches.
It is this very real issue which young people must both acknowledge and be prepared to encounter. We can comiserate, listen, nod; even offer help in one form or another. Private, your remark may not be too far off base. While probably no one may wish to relo to Argentina for a job, too many may reject any notion of leaving the comfort zone of familiarity in search of opportunity. Too many fail to consider any plausable alternatives as “not for me”. That being said, many of these problems which the younger gens…and, quite possibly, the not-so-young…face are problems of self-denial, ie acquiring debt via credit cards to taking out questionable loans in order to satiate a singular demand allthewhile rejecting outright any notion of DEALING WITH THE OFTENTIMES HARSHNESS OF REALITY.
Ole Guy
December 16th, 2012
6:35 pm
Stand by one, Private, you’re comparing apples to oranges and a few bananas on the side. Fortunately, a good deal of my education was covered via GI BILL and employer assistance, mostly within the Defense contracting business. However, there always remained some form of financial commitment which came out of part time jobs (when min wage was $2.00/hr). Just as with the company store which kept “customers” in perpetual servitude, the book stores were always too happy to buy back books at nickles on the dollar. So just what has changed? In all reality, probably not a whole hell of a lot. The waters of adversity are just as deep; the sting of battle with the relentless onslaught of one pile of crap after another remains pretty much unchanged. What has changed, however, is the willingness to walk through fire, swim through ice and maintain focus on the objective…folks allow themselves to become distracted by the small stuff…like one’s place in the line at Red Lobster.
Private Citizen
December 16th, 2012
7:46 pm
when min wage was $2.00/hr
$1.65/hr and it was worth something. And when you bought a car, liability insurance was not required. If you wanted insurance, you bought it at your own decision and it was to protect yourself. Safety inspections were required, not car insurance. The safety inspection cost $12. required annually and done at a gas station. PS There are still people in Germany today who remove the seatbelts from their cars because they consider it a restriction and and an insult to whether or not they no know to drive. There’s no fee for tuition over there, there;s a $100. registration fee and that’s it. They also provide dental along with their social care package. I guess they consider that having a healthy educated populace not indentured by debt leads to a strong economy and high quality standard of living. It’s also illegal to teach character in the schools there. There is no teacher taking focus from content to do character training, something I have been through many times in Georgia public school teaching and also seen where a work review person alienates content instruction and rewards character instruction. I have seen a teacher turn in an entire week of content lesson plans manipulated so that the entire week’s activities were based on “character” activities, as a defensive action to try and sate the work review person surveilling and harassing us, and the work review person light up like a light bulb and say it was the best thing they had ever seen, exploit accomplished.
For example, this would be illegal in Germany today http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/affect/valuesga.html and would be considered something from Stasi East Germany communist police state, and also dereliction of teaching content. If you read the link, it should startle you.
Tech Prof
December 17th, 2012
4:04 pm
A Georgia Southern University commented on this in the Savannah Morning News today: http://savannahnow.com/column/2012-12-16/moore-georgia-pushes-more-diploma-mills#.UM9uPny9KSP