At UMass Lowell Vets and those over 60 can take continuing ed classes for $30 per semester, plus the books. There is an exception. As our State Senator has confirmed to us, there is a "color of money" issue wherein "on line" courses go at full freight. My wife and I have noticed that there are more and more courses going on line, well over half in some departments. In essence, this privilege for those in their golden years (I can't yet write elderly) and Vets is going away.
Is it just bureaucratic mismanagement by the school administration? Has the General Court of Massachusetts failed to turn its eyes to this issue?♠ Is there some other reason?
Over at Slashdot we have this blurb:
theodp writesIs it possible we have found the reason?
"According to a new survey of college admissions directors by Inside Higher Ed, the admissions strategy judged most important is the recruitment of more out-of-state and international students, who can pay significantly more at public institutions. Ten percent of those surveyed also reported admitting full-pay students with lower grades and test scores than other admitted applicants, and a majority of schools either use or plan to use controversial commission-paid agents to recruit foreign students (commission-based recruitment is barred in the U.S.). 'This isn't about globalization or increased educational diversity,' asserts USC's Jerome A. Lucido. 'They need the money.' So, should employees of a public university where the President's annual compensation exceeds $1 million receive a full state-funded pension for educating 16,000+ out-of-state students?"
You betch'um!
It looks like the Administration is trying to make this benefit go away and go away without a lot of fuss.
How does this fit with the fact that half of University employees are now on the administrative side rather than the education side?
Regards — Cliff
♠ And, if they followed my advice and sunset each and every law every ten years and then brought them back at the lowest possible level of abstraction, then they would see these kinds of things.
I would observe, since nobody wants to step forward and pay for any of our nice government-sponsored perks anymore via higher income or other taxes, it's not surprising that our unsustainable spending is being cut back. T employee upset it's being proposed they get no more free rides seem to me very similar to Vets and the elderly--it's not that they're not deserving, but, seriously, who pays for the deficit?
ReplyDeleteFunny how this stuff works, especially when you hear it from a Republican. (At least the Democrats are honest when they say they're ok with bankrupting the state as long as "the people" get their freebies along the way).
I think your state university system does want you, but I don't think that they want the expense that comes with giving it to you. But, in order to provide your continuing education at a fair market price, they are shifting the delivery to online versus a live classroom. Frankly, that is the most economical way possible and provides the means for a range of delivery options to include "live and interactive" "attendance." If you can employ one single professor to deliver course content over a given period of time, in a live, online, interactive environment, the number of students who can be "taught" is virtually limitless.
ReplyDeleteCurrent politics and related demagoguery aside, higher education has suffered for far too long with the inertia brought on by the calcification of academia. Much of today's higher education is systematically wed to "requirements" established decades ago. There is in many cases no reason to take a course except that it is policy. That drives the cost of higher education up and up. Moreover, higher education has been transformed from an exceptional experience to a societal norm. Many, if not the majority of students in the higher education milieu probably shouldn't be there as they are never going to employ their gained knowledge (if any) for anything productive in society. In a time when California DOT management claims that they must hire Chinese welders to help build the new Bay Bridge components because they are unable to find American welders capable and experienced, it makes little sense to send someone who is more likely to succeed in the trades to "college" simply because to NOT go is socially embarrassing.
Moreover, attending university classes for recreational learning purposes defeats the purpose of the institution itself. Given today's technology, those who desire to learn for learning's sake have a virtual smorgasbord of opportunities outside the physical university system to achieve the same goals they seek within it today. The Great Courses is but one commercial venue offering hundreds of college level courses at comparatively inexpensive costs, and the bonus is that the course you purchase is taught by one of the preeminent professors in that particular subject matter.
So....UMass is simply recognizing inefficiency and taking some steps to correct it on a number of levels. IMHO...good on them.
BTW...as an sside....whatever happened to simply going to the public library and reading books about things one wants to learn?