Greater Completion: What Trustees Can Do

Greater Completion:What Trustees Can Do Anne D. Neal, President American Council of Trustees and Alumni 2012 Complete College Ohio Conference Columbus State Community College, Columbus, OH November 13, 2012

Taking Action “Change in institutional strategy can only come from trustees. . . . Reviewing an institution’s academic strategy and deciding whether change is called for is a trustee’s most important responsibility.” Benno C. Schmidt Chair, CUNY Board of Trustees President, Yale University 1986-1992

How do OH schools do when it comes to graduation rates? *Note: Six-year graduation rate, public institutions, BPS (2003 cohort): 59.5% Source: IPEDS – 2004 cohort

What Do Low Graduation Rates Cost? For full-time students who started college in fall 2002 seeking a bachelor’s degree but failed to graduate six years later, approximately • $3.8 billion was lost in income; • $566 million was lost in federal income taxes; • $164 million was lost in state income taxes nationwide Schneider, M., & Yin, L. (2011) The high cost of low graduation rates: How much does dropping out of college really cost? (Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research) http://www.air.org/highcost/

How can you advance the completion agenda?

National Trends: Public Research Universities, 1993-2007 • Tuition (inflation adjusted) up 79.4% • Enrollment up 14.6% • Administrative spending up 36.9% Ohio: 68%graduate with student debt (#9 nationally), carrying an average of $28,683 per student (#7 nationally). Jay Greene, “Administrative Bloat at American Universities, Goldwater Institute, nr. 239 (August 17, 2010) ; Institute for College Access & Success, The Project on Student Debt (2011)

Spending Twice+ the Average OECD (2012), Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators, Chart B1.2 (truncated), OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2012-en

… and Sub-Average Results Figure 1.11. Proportion of students who enter tertiary education without graduating

From The Condition of College & Career Readiness (ACT) “Twenty-five percent of all 2012 ACT-tested high school graduates met all four College Readiness Benchmarks, meaning that 1 in 4 were academically ready for college coursework in all four subject areas” of English, Reading, Mathematics, and Science.

City College of New York (CUNY) • Tuition Assistance Grants (TAG) - Massachusetts

Questions to ask What are we doing to make college more affordable?

Classroom Utilization The University has invested heavily in both the construction of classroom and laboratory facilities and the renovation of existing facilities. …Too often, these facilities are not fully utilized—and the University constructs additional facilities—because of lack of use outside of certain “prime time” class periods or times of the day. Classroom space at University Park, for example, is near fully utilized between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on a typical day, but much capacity is under-utilized at other times of the day. While a notable reduction in classroom utilization has occurred at 8:00 a.m., in response to student (and some faculty) preferences, mid- and late-afternoon scheduling remains significantly lower. Priorities for Excellence. The Penn State Strategic Plan 2009-2010 through 2013-2014

Classroom Utilization Space Utilization Dashboard for Fall 2011 University of North Carolina

Questions to ask How can we schedule classes more effectively to ensure timely completion and wider access?

How do OH schools do when it comes to core curriculum?

ACTA’S Study of the Core Curriculum, What Will They Learn? ™ 1,070 Colleges and Universities: • Less than 5% require an Introduction to Economics • Less than 20% require Foundational Study of American History or Government • Only 14% require intermediate level foreign language • Less than two in five (38%) require literature. • 61% Have Three or Fewer General Education Requirements

Core curriculum saves costs “Effective, efficient core curricula improve educational quality while lowering cost of instruction. The basic general education core that every student needs can be delivered much more cost effectively than the array of boutique courses so often offered in lieu of a well-defined core.” goactablog.org - “Regents making a difference in Tennessee”

Questions to ask How can we more effectively direct student choice?

Academically Adrift | Social Science Research Council • Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) • Class of 2009: 36% with no significant learning improvement

Academically Adrift “Large numbers of college students report that they experience only limited academic demands and invest only limited effort in their academic endeavors.” Richard Arum et al., Improving Undergraduate Learning: Findings and Policy Recommendations From the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project, Social Science Research Council (New York: 2011)

National Perspectives on Historical IlliteracyACTA(August 2012) Survey of college graduates • Lady Gaga 96% • George Washington as general at Yorktown 48% • James Madison as Father of the Constitution 20% • Abraham Lincoln as author of the words: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” 17% • Omnitel – GfK Custom Research North America, August 10-11, 2012

Source: Richard Arum, et al., Improving Undergraduate Learning: Findings and Policy Recommendations From the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project

The View Of Employers • 23.9% find graduates overall preparation “excellent.” • 64.5% say “adequate.” • 26.2% find their writing skills “deficient.” Linda Barrington and Jill Casner-Lotto, Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce (The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the Society for Human Resource Management, 2006)

National Assessment of Adult Literacy

Assessment as a Tool for Benchmarking Progress Before CAAP (Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency), we really did not have the mechanism other than anecdotes to show that our universities have increased the knowledge of students. But if you want to use data-driven decision making, anecdotes just don’t do it. LestaTurchen, South Dakota Board of Regents Chief Academic Officer

Assessment as a Tool for Benchmarking Progress • The South Dakota solution: • Four CAAP tests (Writing Skills, Math, Reading and Science) after 48 credits • Students must pass to move to upper level classes • Regents produce annual “CAAP Gains Report” to governor and legislature • Results: More focus on writing, math to schools that need it. Early warning of academic weakness

Assessment as a Tool for Teaching and Learning The principal goal of the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment) is to assist faculty in improving teaching and learning. Roger Benjamin, President of the Council on Aid to Education

Questions to ask How can we ensure that completion leads to a quality degree?

ACTA’s Resources for Trustees • Board consultations • Trustee seminars • Strategic planning • Guidance on best practices

Greater Completion: What Trustees Can Do