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Obama’s Liberal Band Aid for Higher Ed

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Obama Yudof and the Future of Higher Ed

At the University of Michigan, President Obama made an important speech about his new push to control tuition increases and student debt at American universities. In Ann Arbor, he told college and university leaders that, “You cant assume that youll just jack up tuition every single year. If you cant stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down. We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they dont.” The policy behind this statement can be found in his new Race to the Top initiative for higher education. Basically, the president wants to use federal grants and loans as a way of pressuring public universities and colleges to contain tuition increases, and while he does realize that state budge cuts have played a role in tuition increases, it is clear that he thinks that there are other reasons for the escalating costs. Moreover, the president wants to use a billion-dollar grant system to provide funding to states that help to control tuition increases.

In order to discuss this new initiative, PBS had President Yudof on the News Hour. The first question asked was the following: “At basic level, do you agree with the presidents observation that the fast-rising cost of getting a college education is harming access?” Yudof’s response was, “You have to remember the president didnt mention that theres been systematic disinvestment in higher education. Our budget was cut $750 million in a year, about 25 percent . . . A third of our tuition goes back into financial aid and is distributed to low-income students -- 55 percent of our students pay no tuition -- 39 percent of the students are Pell-eligible, relatively low-income families. Thats the reality.” In other words, Yudof blamed the move to a high fee, high aid model solely on state budget cuts.

While it is obvious that the state budge cuts have a direct effect on tuition increases, we have also seen tuition increases when the state contribution to the UC system has gone up. Furthermore, the other guest on the show, Richard Vedder, pointed out that there has been a massive increase in federal money going to universities and colleges, and that the increase in federally funded grants and loans has allowed universities to continue to spend more as they reduce their reliance on state support.

When President Yudof was asked about the rising costs of higher ed, he responded in the following manner, “Our costs are actually down 15 percent per credit hour over the last 10 years. Thats the reality. The states dont want to pay. So its like you go to your drugstore, the insurance company doesnt want to pay, your co-pay goes from $10 to $20. That doesnt mean the cost of the drug has doubled. It just means your costs have doubled.” This response is very revealing because Yudof is openly admitting that as tuition increases, the university is actually spending less money on educating students.

So not only are students paying more and getting less, but as Richard Vedder argued, universities are increasing their spending on non-educational expenses, like administration: “But it is also clear that universities in the United States over the last generation or so have enormously increased their staffs, for example, administrative personnel, student service personnel. There are climbing walls. Theyre not in and of themselves all that important, but the cumulative effects of a lot of spending on things outside of the core missions has contributed somewhat to the inflation in college costs.” In support of Vedder’s claims, my own research shows that universities now spend on average about 10% of their total budgets on undergraduate education, but undergraduates and states support 35% of the total university budgets. Meanwhile, the costs for professional education, administration, and research continues to increase, and so as undergraduates pay more, they end up subsidizing other parts of their universities to a greater extent.

When asked what would happen if the federal government decreased its support for the University of California, Yudof replied that, “classes will get bigger, class access may suffer, time to degree may grow. I agree with Professor Vedder. We have to do a better job of cutting our budgets. If we have too many administrators, lets reduce the number.” While we have seen some reduction of administrators at the Office of the President, we are still waiting to see what the campuses will do about administrative bloat. Furthermore, class sizes have already gotten bigger and the access to require classes has already decreased, so it is hard to see how the university is going to maintain educational quality as it increases tuition and aid.

What we should push for is clearer budget transparency so we can see how universities are actually spending the money they do have. We also have to insist on a renewed commitment to undergraduate education, and a major emphasis on making sure that federal research grants receive enough overhead funding (indirect costs) to make them at least break even. As a way of pushing this agenda, I have been invited to the White House to make a presentation to the administration.

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Orange Fiber 1° parte per una moda green ed eco sostenibile

Vi voglio presentare Orange Fiber … ormai conoscete la passione per la mia terra … la mia amata Sicilia, tra paesaggi, tradizioni e prodotti locali … quando si pensa alla Sicilia ci viene subito in mente, sole, mare e arance … ecco proprio di questo si tratta … le arance Orange Fiber è una azienda italiana che ha brevettato la produzione di tessuti sostenibili partendo dai sottoprodotti degli agrumi, lo scarto delle arance che rimane dopo aver estratto il succo Attualmente se ne parla moltissimo dell’eco sostenibilità, in tutti i settori, Orange Fiber è proprio questo, una moda green ecosostenibile … Vi lascio alla prima parte dell’intervista - Raccontateci un po’ di Orange Fiber e cosa rappresenta per voi Orange Fiber nasce dalla voglia di fare qualcosa per la nostra terra, dall’esigenza di trasformare un problema in una risorsa economica e portare l’innovazione e la sostenibilità all’interno del comparto tessile e manifatturiero italiano. Dal recupero e la trasformazione del pastazzo d’agrumi alla filiera produttiva, Orange Fiber è il nostro impegno per una moda più green ed eticamente corretta; è il nostro sogno, e con determinazione e serietà continueremo a lavorarci per far sì che si trasformi in una realtà capace di fare la differenza e contribuire ad un processo di sviluppo economico, sociale ed ambientale all’insegna della sostenibilità. - Com’è nata questa idea di utilizzare gli scarti degli agrumi per creare tessuti? Orange Fiber nasce nel 2011 da un’idea di Adriana Santanocito. Nel 2011, nel corso dei suoi studi in Fashion Design e materiali innovativi all’AFOL Moda di Milano. Adriana intercetta il trend dei tessuti sostenibili e decide di approfondire l’argomento nella sua tesi. Parallelamente, entrando in contatto con i produttori di agrumi, rimane molto colpita dalla sofferenza del settore - le cui arance faticano ad entrare sul mercato - e ha l’intuizione di poter utilizzare gli agrumi per creare un tessuto innovativo capace di dare nuovo slancio al comparto manifatturiero italiano e generare valore per il proprio territorio. Dalla teoria, esposta nella sua tesi di laurea, riesce ben presto ad arrivare alla pratica, e dopo aver provato la fattibilità del processo con il laboratorio di Chimica dei Materiali del Politecnico di Milano, deposita il brevetto italiano, esteso poi in PCT internazionale nel 2014. È durante lo sviluppo del processo che scopre l’altra grave questione che affligge il settore agrumicolo siciliano: lo smaltimento dei sottoprodotti della spremitura – ovvero di tutto quello che resta dopo la produzione industriale di succo - che vale circa 1 milione di tonnellate l’anno in Italia - e la cui gestione comporta ingenti costi economici per le industrie di trasformazione e impatta l’ambiente. A quel tempo condividevamo la stessa casa a Milano, città in cui anche io mi ero trasferita per studiare comunicazione e cooperazione internazionale, immaginando un futuro nell’imprenditoria sociale. Mi parlò della sua idea e ne rimasi colpita: la sostenibilità ci ha unite e da quel giorno lavoriamo fianco a fianco ad Orange Fiber, il primo tessuto sostenibile creato a partire dai sottoprodotti dell’industria agrumicola. - Perché proprio tessuti ? Quando è nata la passione per la moda? La moda e il tessile sono sempre stati la passione di Adriana. In particolare, lo studio dei nuovi materiali sostenibili all’AFOL Moda di Milano, alcuni stage come Fashion Designer negli uffici di consulenza stile per noti brand di moda made in Italy, lo sviluppo di alcuni progetti di moda etica e sostenibile - fra cui una collezione di capi artigianali in tessuti riciclati e il progetto Fashion Rebirth per il lancio di Lancia Y eco-chic - e il primo premio al “Fashion Paper 2010” come miglior designer eco-sostenibile, l’hanno formata sui temi della moda sostenibile e sulla sperimentazione di nuovi materiali, preparando quindi la strada ad Orange Fiber.   - Come riuscite a creare un filato così raffinato dalle bucce d’arance? Il nostro tessuto viene realizzato a partire dal pastazzo d’agrumi, ossia quel residuo umido che resta al termine della produzione industriale di succo di agrumi. Grazie al processo da noi brevettato, siamo in grado di sfruttare le potenzialità del pastazzo per l’estrazione della cellulosa d’agrumi atta alla filatura, trasformando così uno scarto in una risorsa per il rilancio economico del comparto manifatturiero italiano. La prima parte della trasformazione avviene in Sicilia, dove la cellulosa atta alla filatura viene estratta, per essere poi mandata in Spagna, dove un nostro partner la trasforma in filato, e in ultimo questo rientra in Italia, presso una tessitura comasca, dove viene trasformato nel nostro prodotto: un tessuto sostenibile di altissima qualità, paragonabile alla seta. I prototipi sinora realizzati sono un raso e un twill bianco naturale e un pizzo nero e bianco, e per le produzioni future abbiamo messo a punto una serie di processi che ci consentono di produrre varie tipologie di tessuti, dai più strutturati ai più delicati, in modo da soddisfare tutte le esigenze di creazione dei brand di moda. continua ... non perdetevi il resto dellintervista ... a breve sul blog...

 

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Online for Higher Ed in California Event

A forum on online education will be held on January 8th at UCLA (Kerckhoff Grand Salon, 9-3). The ambitious title is the following: “Rebooting CA Higher Education: Leveraging innovations in online education to improve cost effectiveness and increase quality.” Here is the schedule of speakers:

January 8, 2013 9:00am to 3:00pm UCLA Kerckhoff Hall, Grand Salon
? Darrell Steinberg, California Senate Pro Tem Setting the Stage / Keynote 9:10-9:25
? Jeff Selingo, Editor at Large, Chronicle of Higher Education Online Educational Delivery Models 9:25- 9:35
? Phil Hill, Educational Tech Consultant & Analyst Scaling Education, Maintaining Quality 9:35-10:05
? Candace Thille, OLI Carnegie Mellon; Mo Qayoumi and Ping Hsu, San Jose State University; Michael Feldstein, Educational Tech Consultant & Analyst

Moderated Online Provider Panel 10:05-11:45
? Sebastian Thrun (Udacity); Burck Smith (Straighterline); Daphne Koller (Coursera); Phillip Regier (ASU Online); Andreea M Serban (Coast Community College); Chari Leader Kelley (Learning Counts); Don Kilburn (Pearson); Ray Cross (University of Wisconsin Colleges/ UW Extension), Steve Klingler (Western Governors University)
Student Experience 11:45-12:00
? Student Representatives: Andrew Litt, UCLA; Martha Harding, College of the Canyons CA University/Policymakers Perspective 12:00-12:30
? Keith Williams, Interim Director UC Online; Barry Russell, Community College Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs; Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, UC Regent, CSU Trustee; John Welty, Chair CSU Online

Moderated Faculty Panel with Questions to Providers 12:30-1:30
? Michelle Pilati, President, Community College Academic Senate; Diana Wright Guerin, President, CSU Academic Senate; Robert Powell, Chair, UC Academic Senate; Bob Samuels, President of University Council AFT; Lillian Taiz, President, California Faculty Association

In the advertisement for the event, it states the following: “The purpose of the panel discussion is to raise the awareness and discuss key issues regarding the potential for online education to lower the costs for higher education in California. We face a crisis in California in our ability to fully support public higher education. As a first approximation, the state should focus its attention on arresting the growth of the cost of education while maintaining or even increasing access and quality, not by simply urging educators to “do more with less,” but by enlisting their active participation in and contribution to innovative approaches. In accomplishing this goal, California could foster a working coalition that would be capable of attacking even more ambitious targets.” Although it is clear here that the frame for the conference is the idea that online education can make higher education more cost effective, I plan to use my time to show how the move to distance education will most likely only increase the cost of instruction.

What is interesting about this event is that it brings together groups that don’t normally talk to each other, and while I think that many of these stakeholders are well intentioned, I also believe that good intentions can lead to some very bad collective results. This event is free and open to the public so please come if you are able.

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Our Irrational Higher Ed Economy

David Segals New York Times article on the economics of law schools highlights many of the same factors that we presently see facing the University of California and other universities and colleges: while the price for higher education continues to escalate, the quality of instruction is being downsized. In the case of law schools, Segal reports that many schools are increasing their enrollments and raising their tuition because there is such a high demand from students, and even though many students with large loans can not find jobs when they graduate, schools are not reducing the supply: “Legal diplomas have such allure that law schools have been able to jack up tuition four times faster than the soaring cost of college. And many law schools have added students to their incoming classes — a step that, for them, means almost pure profits — even during the worst recession in the legal profession’s history.”

Segal hints that one reason why some law schools are increasing their price tag and their enrollments is that it helps them raise their standing in the all-important U.S. News & World Report rankings: “There are many reasons for this ever-climbing sticker price, but the most bizarre comes courtesy of the highly influential US News rankings. Part of the US News algorithm is a figure called expenditures per student, which is essentially the sum that a school spends on teacher salaries, libraries and other education expenses, divided by the number of students.” As I have pointed out before, this standard method of university accounting not only has no real relation to educational quality, but it pushes schools to increase their budgets by supporting unnecessary expenses like new administrative positions.

Just as the counter-productive U.S. News ranking system distorts the priorities of higher education institutions, an equally faulty bond rating system pushes schools to increase tuition and enrollments: “Like all stand-alone institutions, N.Y.L.S. is even more dependent on student tuition than those attached to universities, and Moody’s highlighted this fact in its 2006 appraisal of the school’s bonds. Under a section about potential “challenges” that could lead to a downgrade, Moody’s cited “significant and sustained deterioration of student market position.”” In other words, schools are told that if they do not increase their revenue generated from students, the schools’ will see their bond ratings go down and their interest rates go up.
Thus in the pursuit of higher rankings and lower interest rates, universities and colleges force more students to take on higher debt during a time when there are fewer jobs. The central decisions of our institutions of higher education are therefore being determined by faulty rating and ranking systems in which no one really believes and everyone uses. Welcome to the irrational economy and the death of the middle class.

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