Higher Ed Roundup: Week of November 3 – November 7

Financial Crisis Expected to Impact Community Colleges, Survey Finds

Adjunct Faculty Use Can Impact Student Performance

Goal Financial Settles with Cuomo

Financial Crisis Expected to Impact Community Colleges, Survey Finds

Community college directors across the country are bracing for painful budget cuts as the financial crisis begins to squeeze states’ education budgets, according to a survey that the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges conducted recently of its members. The survey, the results of which were reported this week in The Chronicle of Higher Education, found that 18 of 28 states with funding formulas for community colleges failed to fully finance them in 2007-08. Respondents in nearly half of the states said they will likely face mid-year cuts as well. The survey also found that the more expensive vocational, occupational, and technical education programs are expected to take the greatest hit. Overall, of the various sectors of public higher education, the survey found that community colleges experienced the deepest cuts in state appropriations in the 2007-08 academic year, dropping 5.2 percent from 2006-07, compared to decreases of 1.8 percent for flagship universities and 3.7 percent for regional state colleges during the same period.

Adjunct Faculty Use Can Impact Student Performance

At a time when colleges are relying more on part-time, or adjunct, faculty to teach courses, three new studies released this week suggest that having too many adjuncts can negatively impact student performance. The first two studies, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), found that the likelihood that community college students in California would transfer to four-year colleges decreased by 2 percent for every 10 percent increase in the proportion of adjuncts teaching their courses. Given that about 40 percent of community college courses are taught by adjuncts, this represents an average 8 percent decrease. Similarly, the researchers found that each 10 percent increase in adjunct faculty translated into a 1 percent decrease in the likelihood that students studying for an associate’s degree would reach their goal. A third study, also from UCLA, found that adjunct faculty spent less time preparing for courses and advising students out of class. Nationwide, adjuncts comprise about 46 percent of teachers in higher education, up 22 percent since 1970, and more than two-thirds of faculty at community colleges. The authors of these studies emphasized that they were not blaming adjuncts for students’ failures, but instead were taking a critical look at a higher education system that increasingly relies on part timers to save money.

Goal Financial Settles with Cuomo

Goal Financial, one of the nation’s largest federal student loan consolidation companies, has reached a $350,000 settlement agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo In September, Cuomo announced that he was planning to sue Goal, claiming that the company had engaged in improper and deceptive marketing practices, including luring students to its loans with promises of iPods, cash, and other gifts, and misleading students about the terms of the loans they offered. Goal becomes the eighth direct-to-consumer loan provider to settle with Cuomo over allegations of misconduct this year.