Archive | Access and Affordability

Prelude to a Pricing Paradigm Shift

By Wally Boston on October 7, 2019 in Access and Affordability, Business of Education, Online Education

Ryan Craig’s opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed last week queried why tuition for online programs hasn’t tumbled given the benefits of technology and scale amassed by some of the largest online institutions. He cites several sources, including the BMO 2019 Education Industry report and a 2017 survey by WCET, noting that the average per credit, in-state cost for an online bachelor’s program is 14% higher than on-ground and that 54% of institutions are charging online students more than those on-ground.

Craig states that regardless of which survey you find most credible, few institutions are charging less for online students. He ponders why this hasn’t happened, stating that some colleges and universities are operating subscale online programs which precludes the benefits of cutting tuition. Others spend as much as $5,000-plus in marketing costs to attract and convert a person to an online student.

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Yes, Employers Do Value Liberal Arts Degrees…But Will That Change Public Opinion?

By Wally Boston on October 2, 2019 in Access and Affordability, Accountability, Online Education

Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) authored an article for the September 2019 Harvard Business Review touting the merits of liberal arts degrees. AAC&U represents institutions committed to the value of liberal arts programs. In fact, APUS is a member and recognized by its accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission as a liberal arts institution.

Dr. Pasquerella notes that “it’s no secret that American higher education is under siege” and adds that politicians have fueled this dynamic by proposing legislation that would base funding on students’ employment after graduation and requiring institutions to amend mission statements citing such aspirations as “search for truth,” “public service,” and “improving the human condition.” She adds that the “achieve the American Dream” vision has been decoupled from higher education, keeping many individuals from recognizing that colleges and universities still contribute substantially toward societal and institutional transformation.

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Open Educational Resources: Pioneering Low-Cost Course Materials and Peer-Reviewed Scholarship

By Wally Boston on January 24, 2019 in Access and Affordability, Accountability, Innovation, Online Education

This past November, a new kid on the block joined the ranks of peer-reviewed scholarly journals with its inaugural issue, APUS’s The International Journal of Open Educational Resources (IJOER). This publication, however, is not the common journal that academic scholars have all come to know and love.

In March 2018, APUS Provost Dr. Vernon Smith approached me to see if I would be interested in developing and overseeing a journal focusing on open educational resources (OER). After consulting with several OER leaders, I was quite surprised to learn that IJOER was indeed the FIRST journal to focus solely on OER research — especially given that the OER movement began well before 1995.

In fact, it wasn’t until November 2018 that the first OER-focused journal was developed. Prior to IJOER, research studies around OER were published in content-specific journals. For example, if a researcher conducted a study titled “The Development of OERs in the Physics Classroom”, the article would likely be published in a physics-related journal. IJOER provides scholars with a new and more relevant venue to publish their work.

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Cali Morrison technology-driven learning

Revisiting the CBExchange

By Wally Boston on October 16, 2018 in Access and Affordability, Online Education, Technology

I recently attended my third CBExchange and this year, I had the pleasure of serving on the program and welcome committees. The number one benefit to being a Competency-Based Education Network (CBEN) member and/or attending CBExchange is learning from the experiences of those who participate. The community is open in sharing the good, the bad, the challenges, and the triumphs of starting, fostering, and scaling CBE programs. While I wasn’t around at the beginning of the online education movement, the comradery I’ve seen forged in those who built online education is reflected in the relationships established through CBEN.

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The Horizon Report: Leveraging Technology to Enhance Student and Institutional Outcomes With an Eye to the Future

By Wally Boston on September 18, 2018 in Access and Affordability, Innovation, Online Education, Technology, Trends in Higher Education

We operate in a turbulent higher education marketplace. Many forces are impacting the foundational pillars of higher education, from economic and demographic to social, cultural, and, especially, technological. Knowing how these forces will impact higher education helps leaders adjust, adapt, and plan for the future. This awareness can help an institution to survive or even flourish.

One established source for understanding trends has been the New Media Consortium’s (NMC) annual Horizon Report, which assesses short-, mid-, and long-term trends in the adoption of technology in higher education. The report also looks at the anticipated timeframe for the adoption and the challenges that might impede the adoption of that technology. Over the last 16 years, NMC has used the Delphi Method, engaging industry experts like consultant Bryan Alexander to develop, discuss, and forecast the likelihood and strength of these trends. I have used the report as homework for my academic leaders and it has been suggested reading for all university leadership for many years.

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APUS Honors Faculty for Advocating Open Educational Resources to Enhance Student Success

By Wally Boston on June 14, 2018 in Access and Affordability, Student Retention, Technology

Innovative institutions of higher learning are increasingly incorporating Open Educational Resources (OER) in their curricula to improve instruction and lower students’ education costs.

OER brings together teaching, learning and resource materials in any medium that have been released under an open license. Open Educational Resources include textbooks, curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation products. In 2017, APUS converted 222 courses to OER.

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Higher Ed Insights: Week of October 17, 2016

By Wally Boston on October 25, 2016 in Access and Affordability, Business of Education, Trends in Higher Education

Reuters wrote about how a Chinese company, Dipont, bought access to admissions officers at elite U.S. colleges and universities including Vanderbilt, Tulane, the University of Virginia, and Wellesley College. Eight former Dipont employees were interviewed about the company’s practices with U.S. admissions officers. One of those practices, hosting a summer program in China and inviting U.S.

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College Scorecard Does Not Fairly Represent All Institutions

By Wally Boston on August 9, 2016 in Access and Affordability, Graduation, Online Education, Trends in Higher Education

On September 12, 2015, the White House released its long-awaited College Scorecard and, much like other ranking and comparison tools available for use by students, the Scorecard came up short in representing all institutions fairly. While it may have been created with the latest mobile technology to allow for easier access, its data do not accurately portray many institutions, including those serving non-traditional students or where most students do not use federal student aid (FSA) to cover the cost of tuition.

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Higher Ed Insights

By Wally Boston on March 1, 2016 in Access and Affordability, Trends in Higher Education

A week ago, research firm ITHAKA S+R published the results of its fall 2015 survey. More than 100 American higher education administrators and experts were invited to join a panel of advisors who have been asked to participate in two semi-annual surveys as part of their advisory roles. The Fall 2015 survey examined initiatives and strategies to improve degree completion rates, the quality of student learning and college affordability, and respondents evaluated and rated the initiatives and strategies.

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Moving Beyond College: Rethinking Higher Education Regulation for an Unbundled World

By Wally Boston on September 9, 2015 in Access and Affordability, Trends in Higher Education

Michael Horn’s and Andrew Kelly’s August 2015 whitepaper Moving Beyond College: Rethinking Higher Education Regulation for an Unbundled World discusses current and proposed alternatives to the postsecondary education system and how more of them might be eligible for federal and state financial aid programs. The authors explain that the development of technology-enabled modular or unbundled offerings for higher education is common and occurs in many industries as technology matures.

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