The House of Representatives might have finally chosen a speaker , but that doesn’t mean a divided Congress is going to take up meaningful higher education reform anytime soon.
Fortunately, states don’t need to wait for a functional federal government to address the high cost of college or the absence of career-relevant instruction in many university classrooms. Instead, state capitals, from Austin to Tallahassee, can take the lead on higher education reform and ensure their residents can access valuable knowledge and skills.
ABORTION RIGHTS WON DURING TUESDAY'S ELECTIONS IN GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR BIDEN 2024
In a new report for the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, we outline a higher education reform agenda for state governments. States should focus on three major policy areas to improve the value of higher education for students: outcomes-based funding, lower barriers to entry for new institutions, and reductions in state-imposed degree requirements.
First, states should overhaul funding formulas for public colleges and universities so that institutions get more funding when they produce the results important to students. Such “outcomes-based funding” should be aligned with institutional mission. For example, a technical college should focus on student workforce outcomes such as earnings after graduation, training-related job placement, and licensing exam pass rates. A public research university, on the other hand, might have additional standards beyond job placement and wages, such as student satisfaction upon graduation, continuing education rates, or faculty and graduate research publication.
Most students don’t just want a degree. They want a valuable degree. Outcomes-based funding has already produced success stories in states such as Texas, where post-graduation wages have increased more than 40 % for students of Texas State Technical College over the past decade. The State University System of Florida also reports noteworthy increases in graduation rates and degrees in programs of strategic emphasis due to outcomes-based funding for their institutions. Studies of outcomes-based funding in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee also show that universities took steps to increase degree completion.
While they encourage public universities to improve outcomes, states should also make it easier for new private colleges with innovative or efficient models to begin operating. An underappreciated factor behind the high cost of college is the state authorization system, which requires new colleges to jump through several hoops before they can begin serving students. State authorizers impose strict requirements on new schools but often do not consider the past performance of existing schools up for reauthorization.
The upshot is that incumbent colleges and universities face little competition from newer schools, allowing them to keep prices high and neglect innovations that might improve educational quality. State governments should consider removing many of the barriers to entry their authorizing agencies impose while ensuring that schools are held accountable for student outcomes and consumer protection. The result will be a more competitive higher education market that should see lower prices and better educational quality.
Outcomes-based funding and state authorization reform will result in a better college experience for students. But state policymakers should also work to expand opportunities for people who don’t pursue a traditional four-year college degree. More than a dozen state governors have removed most bachelor’s degree requirements from jobs in the state executive branch, opening these positions to people with relevant experience or alternative training but no four-year college degree. More states should adopt this no-brainer step to expand job opportunities for the 62 % of people who did not graduate college.
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In addition, states should ensure they do not impose unnecessary degree requirements on jobs outside the state government. States license hundreds of occupations, and college degrees are often on the list of licensure requirements. But where licenses already require workers to demonstrate their capacities in other ways, such as exams or training hours, college degree requirements are superfluous and actively block those without degrees from accessing good middle-class professions.
State governments don’t need to wait for Congress to get its act together to improve their residents’ higher education experiences. Outcomes-based funding, state authorization reform, and the removal of unnecessary degree requirements can all contribute to a better higher education system — and none require federal action.
Preston Cooper is a senior fellow and Annie Bowers is a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.
How states can lead on higher education reform
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09.11.2023
The House of Representatives might have finally chosen a speaker , but that doesn’t mean a divided Congress is going to take up meaningful higher education reform anytime soon.
Fortunately, states don’t need to wait for a functional federal government to address the high cost of college or the absence of career-relevant instruction in many university classrooms. Instead, state capitals, from Austin to Tallahassee, can take the lead on higher education reform and ensure their residents can access valuable knowledge and skills.
ABORTION RIGHTS WON DURING TUESDAY'S ELECTIONS IN GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR BIDEN 2024
In a new report for the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, we outline a higher education reform agenda for state governments. States should focus on three major policy areas to improve the value of higher education for students: outcomes-based funding, lower barriers to entry for new institutions, and reductions in state-imposed degree requirements.
First, states should overhaul funding formulas for public colleges and universities so that institutions get more funding when they produce the results important to students. Such “outcomes-based........
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