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Title:
American higher education in crisis? : what everyone needs to know / Goldie Blumenstyk.
Author:
Blumenstyk, Goldie.
Publication Information:
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2015.
Call Number:
LA227.4 .B59 2015
ISBN:
9780199374083

9780199374090
Series:
What everyone needs to know

What everyone needs to know.
Physical Description:
xvii, 198 pages ; 23 cm.
Contents:
Facts and figures on American higher education -- Introduction : is higher education in America in crisis? -- pt. 1. students -- Who goes to college in America? -- How does the United States stack up internationally? -- Why are there so many "goals" for raising the nation's college-going and college-attainment rates, and who sets them? -- How competitive is college admission? -- Why do some analysts call higher education an "engine of inequality"? -- What is the effect of merit scholarship programs? -- Is American higher education racially and economically segregated? -- Where do community colleges fit in this picture? -- Are for-profit colleges also affected by this race and class divide? -- Haven't affirmative action efforts over the past few decades helped make colleges more diverse? -- Will the U.S. Supreme court's ruling in the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case make it less likely that colleges will actively recruit minority students? -- What is "undermatching," and what role does it play in higher education diversity? -- How many students come to college prepared to do college-level work? : what happens to those who are not prepared? -- Are distance-education courses or "alternative-education" approaches effective for students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds? --

pt 2. Costs, spending, and debt --HOw much does America spend on higher education, and how has that changed over time? -- Besides tuition, what are other sources of income for college? -- What impact do donations have on college revenues? -- Don't most public colleges get the majority of their support from their states? -- Why do people say states have "disinvested" in public higher education? -- How have tuition prices changed over the past few decades? -- So how expensive is college? -- Is this why people talk about colleges having a "sticker price" and a "net price"? -- Don't middle-class and even upper-income families struggle to pay for college, too? -- In the past, students work their way through school : why can't they just do that today? -- How big is the student-loan burden? -- Which sectors produce the highest rates of student-loan defaults? -- What is the significance of a default rate? -- What is the difference between the price and the cost of college? -- Are the factors that drive prices at private nonprofit colleges different from those at public institutions? : what about for-profit colleges? -- What is a "discount rate," and why is the rise in this rate a concern? -- Are some colleges in such financial trouble that they are in danger of closing, merging, or being acquired? -- Do for-profit colleges pose a competitive threat to traditional colleges and universities? -- Does distance education make money for colleges? -- Do projected changes in the population of the country pose a threat to colleges' financial health? -- Why have some public colleges emphasized recruiting of out-of-state and international students? : will this help their financial picture? -- Don't multimillion dollar broadcast contracts for football and basketball games and apparel-licensing deals produce big windfalls for colleges? -- Does intercollegiate athletics pay off for colleges in other ways? -- Do universities make money on the drugs and other inventions that they patent and license? -- What is the prognosis for revenue strategies that rely on "profits" from master's programs or law schools, or similar approaches based on internal cross-subsidies? -- Are salaries of professors to blame for higher spending by colleges? -- So what about the spending on these noninstructional costs : is "administrative bloat" a factor in rising prices? -- Do those "lazy rivers" and other elements of the "amenities race" drive up college costs? -- What about colleges' debt? -- What other things contribute to rising college costs? -- Are there financial threats from other looming costs, like deferred maintenance? --

pt. 3. Who's in charge? Leadership pressures, from within and without -- How are colleges run? : is their unusual practice of "shared governance" in danger? -- What role do adjunct professors play in this system? -- How do the faculty models at large for-profit colleges compare with those of traditional institutions? : are these "core faculty" models catching on in traditional higher education? -- What concerns have been raised about the future of the college presidency? -- Do American colleges face international competition? -- What do people mean when they talk about the "accountability movement" in higher education? -- Is the accountability movement having an impact? -- Do the reports and measure actually say much about what students learn? -- Is the federal government also looking to hold colleges accountable? -- Might these "accountability" pressures make their way into federal law? -- Why is there interest in changing what accreditors do? -- What other kinds of organizations are calling for a new direction in higher education? : is this kind of attention new? -- What role are big foundations playing in shaping the national higher-education agenda? -- Have nonprofit universities been "corporatized:? -- Is the "higher-education industry" attractive to investors? --

pt. 4. What's ahead -- What does "disruption" mean when it comes to the future of higher education? -- What are MOOCs? -- Are there proposals for new low-cost or even no-cost models of higher education? -- What are "open educational resources," and might they reduce college costs? -- Has the "big data" movement made an impact on college teaching and other aspects of higher education? -- What are "badges" and "stackable credentials"? : Might they replace traditional college credentials? -- What are competency-based degrees and is there momentum behind them? -- What other alternative-education options are there for earning college credits? -- Are American colleges adopting a German model of apprenticeships? -- So does all this emphasis on career-focused degrees spell doom for a traditional liberal arts education? -- How widespread is distance education and how is it evolving? -- Will online education eventually make campuses obsolete? -- Conclusion : should we be optimistic about the future of higher education in America?
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