OPBlog: Higher Ed Junction

Fewer Californians Enrolling at UC/CSU

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released a report addressing the effects of state disinvestment on enrollment rates in Californian higher education institutions. California high school graduates, despite applying and being eligible for enrollment, are less likely to enroll in the UC or CSU system today than five years ago. The report blames this [...]

“Did Anyone Ask the Students?” A Student’s Response

Jeff Selingo’s recent blog post on the Chronicle of Higher Education website summarizes conversations he had with students at six higher education institutions about majors, job skills, and online learning. His findings were somewhat surprising and ran counter to many current trends in higher education. First, he learned that students, while completely immersed in the [...]

Report Promotes Autonomy for UC Campuses

The Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at UC Berkeley has released a new report calling for a modernization of the UC system’s governance structure. Today, the UC system is run as one university with multiple campuses, and most decisions are made by a single, system-wide Board of Regents. The Center contends that the [...]

HB 2483: Clarifying SB 5182, Abolishing the HECB

Last year, SB 5182 officially abolished the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), replacing it with two new agencies. The change was intended to focus state appropriations on financial assistance for students, and direct a smaller appropriation to coordinated policymaking and planning, directed by a new council with different membership than the HECB’s. This year, the [...]

Another Report on the Effect of Public Investment on Attainment

Demos, a research and advocacy organization, recently published a report entitled “The Great Cost Shift” discussing the effects of higher tuition and lower state investment on a growing and diverse college population. The report focuses on the Millennial generation, the group of students born in the 1980s and 90s and beginning to enter college in [...]

Increasing Latino College Completion

Excelencia in Education has produced a report that summarizes college attainment rates within the Hispanic population in all fifty states. The report is intended to highlight the importance of increasing higher education participation and graduation rates among Hispanics if the US is to reach its ambitious attainment goals. According to the report, Latinos are expected [...]

Legislature Passes Supplemental Compromise Operating & Capital Budgets

Please review our OPB budget brief and post any questions or comments.  

Faculty Salaries Remain Flat

AAUP released its annual academic salary information this week. The data show, once again, that faculty salaries have not kept up with inflation, that they have not increased significantly over many years, and that the pay gap between professors at public and private institutions continues to grow. Although these data do not address the rapidly [...]

Scholarship and Web 2.0: Opportunity, Challenge or Both?

Political Science professor Charli Carpenter made an 8 minute video presentation at the International Studies Association (ISA) conference last week in San Diego that has since been making the Internet rounds. The provocative video ‘mash-up’ highlights the changes and challenges that social media and other web technologies have brought to traditional academic work and communication. [...]

Change? Us?

City University of New York dean Ann Kirschner (note she also sits on the Apollo Group’s Board of Directors) posted an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday about “change” in higher education. She characterized the “glacial pace” at which higher education institutions evolve despite funding crises, new technology, and mounting pressure from for-profit [...]

Pace of College Enrollment Slows

At the beginning of the economic downturn in late 2008, a higher than expected number of Americans turned to higher education, leading to a 7.1 percent increase in college enrollment for 2009. This phenomenon is typical of recessions as many need to refresh their qualifications and/or increase their skill sets when faced with a volatile [...]

No Material Change to UW Funding in New House Budget

In a final effort to pass an omnibus operating budget before the end of the first special session of 2012, the House introduced what the Democratic Caucus deemed a compromise, amended budget Wednesday and passed the budget off the floor yesterday. This second engrossed House budget is nearly identical to the first engrossed House budget [...]

College Attainment Rising, But Not Enough

 The Lumina Foundation set an ambitious goal to increase the percent of Americans with a two or four year degree from 37.9 percent to 60 percent by 2025. This goal has been picked up and echoed by many, including President Obama. In its latest status report, A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, the foundation finds [...]

News Flash! Report Confirms Dismal Reductions in State Support for WA Higher Ed

The latest State Higher Education Executive Officer (SHEEO) State Higher Education Finance Report (SHEF) confirms that the Great Recession accelerated public four-year institutions’ reliance on tuition revenue as state funding declined. Released annually, this report is helpful because it summarizes state appropriations and net tuition revenue for the prior fiscal year well before the Integrated [...]

A New Senate “Coalition” Budget Proposal

The first new budget proposal of special session was released today by the same bipartisan Senate coalition that quickly passed an engrossed supplemental budget two weeks ago. Last week, the House further revised the Senate engrossed budget before session ended without agreement on a compromise budget. Although complex and at times confusing, this year’s budget [...]

Olympia Budget Update

On Thursday morning (3/8), around 12:30 AM, yet another version of the budget (making changes to the Senate engrossed budget) was proposed by Representative Hunter (Chair, Ways & Means) on the last scheduled day of legislative session. This proposal was intended as a compromise between the Senate engrossed budget, written by Senate Republicans, and the [...]

Majority of Americans Think College Is Beneficial, Though Disagreements Over its Primary Purpose Remain

According to the latest survey by the Pew Center for the People and the Press, conducted in late February, the majority of all Americans think higher education contributes positively to the country, while those identifying themselves as conservative were more likely to doubt its benefits. While 67 percent of Democrats believe college affects the country [...]

Senate Republicans Stage “Coup,” Forcing Adoption of New Budget

In a rare, surprise move (which has not occurred in the state capitol since 1987), Senate Republicans introduced a striking amendment to the Senate Ways & Means budget on the Senate floor yesterday afternoon and eight hours later, passed their version of the supplemental operating budget with only one amendment adopted. Many amendments were introduced [...]

Senate Budget Protects Current UW Funding Levels

In FY09, the UW’s state funding appropriation was $401.7 million and while the upcoming fiscal year’s (FY13) state funding level could be $214.4 million, the Senate budget released this morning would not cut current levels further. For the first time in several years, the UW may experience a flat budget, without new reductions. While funding [...]

Census Bureau Announces 3 in 10 Americans Now Hold B.A.s

Data released by the Census Bureau yesterday shows that 30 percent of Americans aged 25 and over held a Bachelor’s degree or more in 2011, an unprecedented level of higher education attainment. The percentage of Bachelor’s degree holders has increased steadily from less than 25 percent in 1998. While this is encouraging news, some warn [...]