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Showing posts with the label state budgets

8 Ways Online Education will Help Balance University Budgets

A sound college degree is expensive and the cost of managing universities is continuing to put pressure on stretched state budgets. Online education entered the market in the past few decades and is disrupting the traditional system. Despite this feather ruffling it also will bring a few new things that may help both universities and states become more cost effective. The legal design of the institution (for or non-profit) is less important than the actual quality of education provided. To that end, traditional land based universities have come grudgingly to accept the merits of online education in both terms of cost and learning quality. Online education will change the cost structures of universities (Cowen & Tabarrok, 2014): Using the best professor and content creators to teach more students. Save time with less repetition and commuting costs. Flexibility in when and how lectures are viewed. Greater productivity improvements as software substitutes labor. Addi

Is the Cost of Higher Education Slowing?

According to a report by the College Board shows how college tuition has slowed this year when compared to the past 30 years. This is great news for people concerned about the overall cost of education and how it is increasing faster than inflation every year. In some years tuition increases have reached double digit levels putting additional burden on families. The question of why this is the case has not been fully explored or discussed. Certainly, no solution has been found yet. The report shows how 2013-2014 tuition and fees increased 10% for private non-profits, 17% for public 4-year and 18% public 2-year. In the past some, of these costs would reach into 20 and 30% increase range begging the question of why. Improvement in the numbers is to the benefit of students, families, and the government itself. The answer to "why" such large increases occur is difficult to answer in a single sitting. Some have argued that the recession and smaller state budgets are forc

Is Higher Education Crashing? Report Indicates Major Problems on Horizon

States are cutting funding and college tuition is rising and student loans are exploding and we are officially in a public higher education crisis. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities more states are pushing the burden on students and this may have an impact on the skill level of the next generation and their ability to successfully navigate the economic environment. The problems are a result of a number of issues related to budget cuts, increased tuition, and policy decisions.  The primary issue is that public college education is increasingly being removed out of the hands of the average student. During the recession it was necessary to cut state budgets to ensure that the books were in balance. Despite these cuts many states still were not able to balance their budgets in other areas. State appropriates from 2008 to 2013 for higher education declined around 19%, student expenditures rose 27% and enrollment has increased over 11%. The report indicates