Page 354 - Crisis in Higher Education

324 • Appendix A

2. Government should create a database of Higher Education Pricing
and Outcomes (HEPO) that offers information about costs, gradua-
tion rates, completion time, passing rates for licensure and certification
exams, and job placement. This should help applicants make informed
choices.
3. Universities should be responsible to pay for textbooks and learn-
ing materials as part of the tuition payment. Universities have more
leverage with companies who provide this material and can negoti-
ate better prices.
4. Students and their supporters should change their expectation so
they graduate debt-free. Long-term financial planning is a vehicle to
identify appropriate levels of earning and saving as well as spending
funds wisely and making good investments.
a. Prepare and follow a budget for a university education so spend-
ing is targeted on essential items. Those who did spent 40% less.
b. Students and their support group can earn more, save more, and
borrow less. The key is to start early.
5. Students should demand a rigorous curriculum so they have a more
valuable education.
6. Students should pick their major bases on both interest in the work
and the opportunity to secure a job that pays well. Too often students
pick majors with limited job opportunities.

A.2 CHAPTER 7: BECOMING STUDENT
CENTERED: THE RIGHT WAY

1. Being student centered means that students get more respect, better
treatment, and services that are courteous, responsive, effective, and
efficient.
2. Building new dormitories must be carefully examined given the
trend toward distance learning, and outsourcing the ownership,
construction, and operation of dormitories must be considered.
3. Universities that make students a priority should not require them to
live on campus.
4. Universities must examine future trends in higher education to
determine how changes in the pedagogy, size of administration, and
other factors impact the need to build new facilities.