trends in higher education Archives - Wally Boston - American Public University System

Should Elite Universities or Other Universities Enroll a Million Students?

February 22, 2021 Wally Boston

In a recently published article in Forbes, Brandon Busteed makes the provocative statement that elite universities should enroll a million students. Busteed opens his article by writing that the Ivy Plus colleges (the Ivy League plus the University of Chicago, MIT, Stanford, and Duke) produce the highest social mobility success rate, with nearly 60 percent of their students from the bottom quintile of income distribution moving to the top quintile after graduating. (Note: Just 3.8 percent of students from the bottom quintile of income distribution are enrolled at these institutions.)

Trends in Higher Education

The NSC and Why Higher Ed Enrollments Are Trending Down

October 16, 2020 Wally Boston

The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) issued its most recent Fall 2020 enrollment report on October 15. The report uses data reported by colleges and universities to the NSC as of September 24 and compares the 2020 data to 2019 and 2018 data.

Accountability

College Presidents Survey: An Increasing Concern about Value

June 30, 2020 Wally Boston

During the COVID-19 crisis, Inside Higher Education and Hanover Research have regularly surveyed college and university presidents, asking questions about their actions during the crisis. More recently, these presidents have been asked about their expectations of when campus life will return to normal.

Accountability

The College Stress Test

February 4, 2020 Wally Boston

My first review of one of Bob Zemsky’s books was in 2008 with Remaking of the American University: Market Smart and Mission Centered, that he co-authored with Greg Wegman and Bill Massy. While Zemsky has written more books post-2008, he’s continued to write about change in higher education and the higher education market.

Accountability

Graduate Degrees – Worth the Time and Expense?

January 28, 2020 Wally Boston

Not a day goes by where we don’t hear about the shortage of workers with the required education and training for more than six million unfilled positions in the U.S. Early in his presidency, Barack Obama called for increasing the number of Americans earning a college degree to maintain global competitiveness in an era with increasing technology innovations, some used to replace jobs in the workforce. Despite all the attention on higher education attainment, overall enrollments have decreased since 2010, with explanations ranging from a declining birth rate and low unemployment rates to an increasing perception that degrees may not provide the same return on investment for today’s students as for Baby Boomers and their parents.

Accountability

Dawn of the Dead

November 27, 2019 Wally Boston

Matt Schifrin and Carter Coudriet of Forbes wrote an article about the financial ratings of private colleges, Dawn of the Dead: For Hundreds of the Nation’s Private Colleges, It’s Merge or Perish. The authors refer to Forbes’ analysis of the finances of 933 private, not-for-profit colleges with 500+ enrollments, stating that the majority of these institutions are in a precarious situation with their high tuition, tuition-dependent financial model, declining overall enrollments, and competitive landscape in higher education.

Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States

February 1, 2013 Wally Boston

For the last ten years The Sloan Consortium has been publishing the results of their annual survey about online learning in the United States. This year’s edition, “Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States,” contains some noteworthy information. Published in partnership with Pearson and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this year’s survey focuses a significant amount of attention on MOOCs.

Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials

May 25, 2012 Wally Boston

Researchers at Ithaka S+R including William G. Bowen (former president of Princeton University), Matthew M. Chingos (also a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy), Kelly A. Lack, and Thomas I. Nygren, have followed Ithaka S+R’s recent report titled “Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education” with a second that reports the findings of a series of randomized trials related to online learning conducted at six public universities.

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