In a new survey by Inside Higher Ed and Gallup, barely a quarter of campus chief financial officers (27 percent) express strong confidence in the viability of their institution’s financial model over five years, and that number drops in half (to 13 percent) when they are asked to look out over a 10-year horizon… Asked which issues they were paying more attention to than they were five years ago, the cost of providing health insurance and benefits appeared second only to market limits on increasing tuition.
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by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: July 12th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
City College of San Francisco’s 85,000 students will lose their affordable public community college if its accreditation is revoked as scheduled. Some of the problems found by the regional Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges were indeed serious, but the situation also illustrates some of the problems with the accreditation process. It is at times focused more on disciplining schools and obscure governance deficiencies than on the educational issues that matter most… The accrediting commission’s chief job is to hold colleges to a certain standard, but it also must be cognizant of the harm it can do by imposing excessively harsh penalties and timelines. Are the shortcomings in San Francisco so dire that 85,000 students aren’t learning anything worthwhile? Would they really be better off without any classes if the school can’t meet all the commission’s conditions within the next year?
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by The Editorial Board, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: July 11th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
A report released on Wednesday details the project’s progress toward establishing the five new metrics, which would measure repayment and default rates on student loans, students’ progress and program-completion rates, institutional cost per degree, employment outcomes for graduates, and learning outcomes at the program level, as measured by data like “core skills” evaluations and professional qualifying examinations. College leaders already stagger under a data-reporting burden, but they also grouse about the one-size-fits-all statistical measures that sometimes result.
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by Lee Gardner, The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Posted: July 10th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
State officials stripped authority from the elected Board of Trustees for City College of San Francisco on Monday and installed a “special trustee” with unilateral powers to try and save the school from losing accreditation in one year. The dramatic move by California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice Harris and the college system’s Board of Governors followed objections from faculty and a plea from City College Trustee Anita Grier to let the board remain in charge. But Harris and a unanimous Board of Governors made it clear that the trustees’ time has run out.
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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: July 9th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
A group of about 200 City College of San Francisco students, teachers, staff and supporters held a downtown rally Tuesday afternoon in response to news that the college was facing the revocation of its accreditation… “City College touches every fabric of the city,” San Francisco Labor Council executive director Tim Paulson said Tuesday in announcing the council’s support for the rally. Several college faculty members attending the rally questioned the validity of the accrediting commission’s criticism and whether it warranted possibly closing the school next year.
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by staff, KTVU.
Posted: July 9th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
City College will appeal last week’s decision by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) to revoke City College’s accreditation. The reason for the appeal is simple: Most of what ACCJC asked for has been accomplished, and the rest is well on its way towards completion within a year… City College neither ignored nor fought ACCJC’s recommendations, as many people wish we had. City College’s response was to work to enact ACCJC’s will as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the decision to revoke accreditation will harm City College’s otherwise good financial position by causing a large drop in student enrollment for fall — and the loss of millions of dollars in state funding. Ironically, this will make it more difficult to finish what ACCJC wants done. The best course for students is to let City College retain accreditation while it finishes the job that ACCJC wants done.
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by John Rizzo, San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Posted: July 9th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Loss of accreditation tied to federal push for austerity and a curriculum that feeds universities and the economy… As news of its accreditation troubles spread, City College has been under-enrolled by thousands of students, exacerbating its problems. Since the state funds colleges based on numbers of students, City College’s funding is plummeting by the millions… “People are looking for jobs elsewhere already. Despite everyone’s dedication to see the college through, it has tried everyone and stretched them to the limit,” she told us. The college has two hopes — that the CFT wins its lawsuit and can reverse the ACCJC decision, or that the new special trustee can somehow turn the college around by next July. But either way, something will be lost.
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by Joe Fitzgerald, San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Posted: July 9th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
City College of San Francisco will lose its accreditation in one year and be shut down, its regional accreditor announced on Wednesday, unless the college can prevail in a review or appeal process with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The two-year college, which enrolls 85,000 students, would be the largest institution ever to lose its accreditation. Without regional accreditation it would no longer receive state funding and would certainly close its doors… Faculty unions have been harshly critical of the commission over its handling of the CCSF crisis, as well as its sanctions of other California community colleges. The California Federation of Teachers in May filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, accusing the commission of having conflicts of interest and failing to follow state and federal laws. A coalition led by professors vowed to fight the accreditor’s verdict, which it called illegitimate.
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by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: July 5th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
When the program begins in 2014 it will bring some relief to California’s middle-class families who have watched helplessly in recent years as public tuition and fees have nearly doubled since 2007. It will offer sliding-scale discounts of up to 40 percent for families who earn $150,000 or less and don’t qualify for Cal Grants, which support lower-income students. It was a separate bill signed Monday as part of the state budget. Students apply just as they would for a federal loan or a Cal Grant, by completing a Free Application for Financial Aid by early March. They must also have a C average. About 130,000 public university undergraduates each year will be eligible, according to the state’s estimate.
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by Katy Murphy and Theresa Harrington, The Contra Costa Times.
Posted: July 5th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Some students taking free classes from Coursera may never know the right answers. A University of Michigan professor teaching one of the company’s massive open online courses, or MOOCs, told students this week he could not provide them with correct answers to questions they get wrong because doing so would reduce efficiency. The professor’s decision is prompting additional questions by critics of MOOCs about their ability to provide quality teaching.
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by Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: July 5th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
