EDITORIAL

Performance college funding

Posted 5/7/15

Although Rep. Joseph McNamara seemed to have all the right answers’ at the last House Committee meeting last Wednesday, CCRI and RIC graduate Christian Potter brought up a real concern.

He said …

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EDITORIAL

Performance college funding

Posted

Although Rep. Joseph McNamara seemed to have all the right answers’ at the last House Committee meeting last Wednesday, CCRI and RIC graduate Christian Potter brought up a real concern.

He said McNamara’s bill, H-5792, appeared to be void of any student input or obvious student reward.

The bill would establish a funding formula based on graduation rates for the state’s public institutions, the Community College of Rhode Island, The University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.

McNamara argued that one of the biggest concerns his bill would address is the graduation rate among the state’s public universities and colleges. On average, 30 percent of students now graduate on time. Others take a year or longer to complete degree requirements provided they don’t quit.

Obviously, the longer it takes to complete degree requirements, the higher the cost. And cost is often a factor in causing a student to delay his or her students or never earn a degree.

McNamara is looking to provide a financial incentive to help these colleges ensure students can finish their education on time.

The rising cost of tuition forces students to take on part-time and even full-time jobs while attending an institution of higher education, but in doing so they may have to take on a lighter course load, possibly lengthening their time in school.

As of 2012 Bloomberg Business found that since 1978 tuition costs have skyrocketed, increasing a whooping 1,120 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau found that in 2011, 71 percent of the country’s 19.7 million college undergraduates were working and of those working 20 percent put in at least 35 hours of work at their place of employment.

Only two years later, a Citigroup survey found 80 percent of students were working in addition to pursuing a degree.

Gone are the days of pushing through school and surviving on a summer job or parents lucky enough to help their children through school.

James Parisi, who spoke at the hearing for the Rhode Island Federation of Teacher and Healthcare, agreed that there is a plethora of reasons a student may not graduate on time and encouraged listeners that the money would be used to create support systems for students.

This is not to say McNamara’s bill isn’t a start, but its success will be highly dependent on its implementations.

Parisi said Rhode Island is ranked 45th out of 50th for funding of higher education, good reason for added funding to reduce the dependence on tuition.

The McNamara bill allows for the institutions to establish the parameters of success, but how?

Those measurements discussed, especially graduation rates, implies that the metrics for the funding formula will focus on student success, but will students be prioritized when the new money starts rolling in?

The bill is open in its language, doing so to benefit the colleges and universities and not reign in three different educational institutions to hold to a single set of standards.

McNamara’s bill, which received overwhelming support from college administrators, is a good step in the right direction; however, in terms of its success, that will be dependent on how the institutions define themselves and their goals in student progress.

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