Page 203 - Crisis in Higher Education

174 • Crisis in Higher Education

5% of government support for higher education, and they usually fund
4
operating expenses at community colleges. State budgets are also
under continuous pressure. Elementary and secondary education plus
Medicaid payments, which are the top-two line items in state bud-
gets, consume more than half of state funds, whereas higher education
4
consumers less than 10%, barely edging out prisons. State and local
governments usually have balanced budget constraints, so they can-
not engage in deficit spending to support higher education, whereas the
federal government can.
Although federal, state, and local governments fund higher education,
these political entities also drive up costs. Regulation and compliance are
pervasive and expensive problems that cover a wide range of issues from
affirmative action for admitting students and hiring faculty and adminis-
trators, to complying with financial aid requirements to satisfying spend-
ing guidelines established by state and local governments. On top of
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that, sports programs bring the burden of NCAA rules and reporting
requirements. It is critical to identify all regulations, assess their value,
and eliminate regulations that increase the cost of higher education
while having little if any impact on improving quality. Doing this could
reduce tuition costs significantly. The NCAA and sports are discussed in
Chapter 11.
A key to changing the regulatory environment is shifting the focus from
rules and requirements that mandate how things are done, which is pro-
cess, to assessing outcomes, which is more important for economic prog-
ress and personal enhancement. As major funders of higher education,
governments have the right to expect positive outcomes, and outcome data
are readily available for many things. As an example, graduation rates and
time to completion data, which are reported in Chapter 4, indicate prob-
lems in higher education, and the problems are particularly acute with
for-profit, private universities. It is time to shift the focus to outcomes and
consider questions such as:

1. What are the four- and six-year graduation rates?
2. Why does it often take six years to complete a four-year degree, and
three years to complete a two-year degree?
3. What percentages of graduates have jobs at graduation and within
six months of graduation?
4. How do starting salaries for graduates from one university compare
with regional and national averages?