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State and federal leaders should work in tandem with colleges and universities to make a degree more valuable in the eyes of students, a national organization of state legislators said in a report released Thursday.
The National Coalition of State Legislatures (NCSL) released a report Thursday calling for more collaboration among federal, state and university entities to help expand and emphasize the value of a degree.
A bipartisan task force composed of lawmakers from 32 states, including Iowa Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Orange City, spent two years analyzing higher education in the U.S. The panel on Thursday released its report, titled “A State-Led Strategy to Enhance the Value of Degrees: The Findings of the NCSL Task Force on Higher Education.”
The three-part report details trends in higher education, from funding and spending to governance, the relationship between state and federal governments in financing, policies and transparency and strategies for institutions, federal and state governments to enhance the value of a degree.
The report stated many of the problems faced by higher education fell under the umbrella of ensuring that a degree has value for students. In order to be valuable, the report said, students must have enrollment and degree options that “lead to desirable life, career and earning outcomes,” be able to complete their degree on time and at their own pace, and the prices they pay must be reasonable based on the program, their income and potential pay depending on their career.
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The report outlines actions that universities, states and the federal government can take to address these needs. The report places primary responsibilities on universities, with state policy strongly backing them and federal policy working in complement.
A panel of lawmakers and higher education leaders discussed the report and its applications Thursday after its release
NCSL panel members, from left: Illinois Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, Mississippi Sen. Briggs Hopson, U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal, Utah Sen. Ann Millner, Oregon Sen. Michael Dembrow, Bipartisan Policy Center Executive Vice President of Human Capital Cheryl Oldham, and Association of Public Land-Grant Universities President Mark Becker. (Photo courtesy of NCSL)
U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal, one of the panelists, reiterated a point made in the report that state and federal policies aren’t often made with the other in mind.
“Too often, the federal conversations and the state conversations happen in isolation,” Kvaal said. “People are working on different pieces of the puzzle without supporting each other, and so I think forums like this one are just so important, and I hope will become much more common.”
Mark Becker, president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, said in his experience, federal policymakers lack appreciation for states’ role in higher education, and thinks state leaders should be looked at more when discussing the industry than think tanks or advocacy groups.
“I hope to see better alignment and respect and appreciation for the roles played by institutions, states and federal lawmakers, to see policy making, both in Washington and at the state level, respect the roles and the contributions of all parties,” Becker said.
According to the report, NCSL has not convened a task force on higher education in almost 20 years. Since that time, the report states, student debt has grown by almost three times and more and more people are questioning the worth of a college degree, though enrollment and graduation rates have increased.
Around the time that the NCSL group was formed in 2006, Bipartisan Policy Center Executive Vice President of Human Capital Cheryl Oldham said she was involved in a different commission on the future of higher education. The panelist said “it’s shocking” that the problems discussed back then, from access to affordability to accountability and access, are still in need of solutions today.
“We’ve made some progress on some things, and … I find a lot of commonality in what we’re still calling for, which is a little depressing,” Oldham said.
She said institutions are focusing more on the success of their students, which is a good thing, but strides still need to be made in making higher education more affordable and the world of financial aid less confusing, as well as create more transparency and accountability in colleges with their data and information like transfer credit policies.
When it comes to institutions’ offerings to students, Becker said colleges and universities need to make sure their degrees and programs are able to work for students of today’s world rather than the one of the past. Degree-seeking people come from a much larger pool now, and education needs to be connected to the real world as well as show students what skills they can take to an employer beyond the statement of having a degree.
“When I talk about design, it’s really a journey from beginning of the freshman year to graduation, so you can design so you actually get completion,” Becker said. “You identify the institutional barriers in a database way … so you can identify the institutional barriers that are tripping students up on policies that make sense for the institution that don’t make sense for students, but also designing the journey to take the student through the discovery of what will be their major.”
Oldham praised Becker and the institutions he works with for the recognition of skills-based learning, and said the business community is another important partner in making higher education more valuable.
Sen. Michael Dembrow also pointed out that the Higher Education Act, not updated since 2008, needs to be reauthorized, and agencies need to be prepared for the day that happens.
Sen. Ann Millner of Utah said many of the things those in higher education are discussing today have been spoken about for years, and it’s time to actually work together and do something about them. These problems cannot be solved without collaboration from the institutions, states and federal leaders.
“They’re concrete steps we’ve talked about for a very long time, and now we need to take action,” Millner said.
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