Here are some new resources and news for the field of higher education.
The Great Recession’s Lingering Impact Nationwide, states’ general fund spending was 4.3 percent higher in 2018 than it was in 2008. Conditions still varied from state to state, with 23 spending less than they did in the 2008 fiscal year, even after accounting for inflation. For the 2019 fiscal year, an estimated 17 states will spend less than they did before the recession. (Inside Higher Ed)
Addressing Campus Safety Through State Policy Safety on college and university campuses continues to be a topic on the minds of legislators: Since the beginning of the year, we have tracked more than 180 bills related to campus safety—48 related to guns on campus and 90 related to sexual violence. The new 50-State Comparison captures policies related to these two issues that are codified in statute, providing a high-level view of the work in states to address campus safety and set a foundation for further policy development by institutions. Here are some of the key findings from our resource.
Postsecondary Education Attainment: Yearly Success and Progress Rates (Fall 2012 Entering Cohort) This report measures national postsecondary attainment by tracking the fall 2012 entering cohort of first-time degree-seeking students, showing persistence, stop-out, and completion rates at the end of each subsequent year. By the end of year four, 43.7 percent of fulltime students who had entered in the fall of 2012 had completed a postsecondary credential, while 23 percent were no longer enrolled. By the end of year six, 64.3 percent had graduated, while 26.6 percent had left college without earning a credential. Among part-time students, only 33 percent had graduated by the end of year six. The six-year graduation rate for fulltime students among public, private non-profit, and private for-profit was 59.8 percent, 68 percent, and 33.4 percent respectively. Among two-year public institutions, by the end of year three, 67.4 percent of fulltime students had either completed a postsecondary credential (23.6 percent), were still enrolled in college (42 percent), or had transferred to a different institution before withdrawing (1.8 percent). (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)
Impacts of College Board’s Realize Your College Potential (RYCP) Campaign on Postsecondary Enrollment The College Board sought to reduce barriers in the college application process by minimizing information aggregation costs, encouraging a broad application portfolio, and providing an impetus to start the search process through the Realize Your College Potential (RYCP) campaign. Some students were offered additional encouragements, such as text message reminders or college application fee waivers. In a randomized control trial with 785,000 low- and middle-income students in the top 50 percent of the PSAT and SAT distributions, the authors found that the interventions led to no change in the likelihood or sector of college enrollment of treated students. The one exception were small positive impacts for African-American and Hispanic students, with increases in college quality as measured by average freshmen SAT score. (Brown University)
‘The Best In A Generation’: Higher Ed Board Members React To Legislative Session And State Budget For several years, Illinois higher ed officials have been fighting their way out of the hole dug during the two-year budget impasse. But they say the budget, passed by the General Assembly, is a big improvement. (WNIJ & WNIU)
