The economics of higher education 101
((Butch Dill – Associated Press) )
The cost of going to college is one of the most difficult issues facing education policymakers. Here Catharine Hill, president of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, explains the basics of higher education economics. During her almost seven years as president, Vassar’s signature effort has been re-instituting need-blind admissions and maintaining a commitment to full need-based financial aid for all four years students attend, even as demand for aid has significantly increased.) More than a decade ago, Hill began examining the admissions and financial aid practices of the nation’s most selective colleges and universities, with a key focus on students who have strong academic qualifications and are from families in the lower 40% of the national income distribution. PDFs of her papers are available via http://sites.williams.edu/wpehe/research/ .
By Catharine Hill
This semester, I am once again teaching a course in the Economics of Higher Education at the college where I also happen to be president. Since my academic background is in
Are MOOCs hyped?
If you haven't heard of MOOCs, you no doubt will, because these Massive Open Online course are becoming all the rage, tagged as the biggest thing in public education since, well, the dawn of public education. (It wasn't long ago that the Khan Academy was). My colleague Nick Anderson reported about the emergence of the MOOCsmovement as a disruptive force in higher education. But there are reasons to think MOOCs are being hyped, and below, former schools superintendent Larry Cuban explains why. Cuban is a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest book is "As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin." This appeared on his blog.
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