trends in higher education Archives

More Research About Why Fewer Community College Students Are Enrolling

May 12, 2022 Wally Boston

In March, I wrote two articles about a research paper written by Kelli Bird, Benjamin Castleman, Brett Fisher, and Benjamin Skinner titled Unfinished Business: Academic Market and Labor Market Profiles of Adults with Substantial College Credits But No Degree. Their report looked at students who attended the 23 Virginia Community College System colleges during the 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 academic years who earned some college credits and dropped out for at least a three-year period after completing their last course.

Trends in Higher Education

Higher Ed 2.0: Scott Galloway’s Reassessment of the Pandemic’s Impact

May 6, 2021 Wally Boston

As I mentioned in a previous post, the May 1 due date for college acceptance decisions seems to have coincided with several notable predications about the impact of the pandemic on changes in higher ed. Earlier this week, I commented on the Adam Weinberg opinion piece in Higher Ed Dive as well as the Brandon Busteed article in Forbes. Concomitant with the other pieces, Professor Scott Galloway’s weekly blog post, “Higher Ed 2.0 (What We Got Right/Wrong),” reviewed his prediction from last year that the pandemic would change higher ed forever in a number of ways.

Access and Affordability

Pandemic to Permanent – Another Prognostication of Higher Ed Changes Accelerated Due to the Pandemic

May 4, 2021 Wally Boston

May 1 was the date that many colleges required accepted applicants to indicate their commitment to attend for the coming 2021-22 school year. It must have also been the date for predictions on higher ed trends and changes.

Student Persistence

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.

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