Senate Higher Education Committee Holds Work Session on Academic and Structural Efficiencies

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This afternoon the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee convened a work session focused on academic and operational efficiency efforts at Washington’s higher education institutions.

Representatives from the six, public baccalaureate institutions and the community and technical colleges shared with the committee efficiency efforts ranging from increased partnerships to ease transfer among sectors to increased automation to minimize costs associated with printing, mailing, and supplies.

Through the College’s presentation to the Committee, Evergreen shared academic and operational efficiencies the College has undertaken in recent years as well as the opportunities Evergreen’s unique delivery of higher education provides for an efficient and effective degree path.

Among the efficiencies highlighted in Evergreen’s presentation to the Committee was the College’s transfer friendly structure. Specifically, Evergreen’s student-focused credit transfer policy and the 354 articulation agreements with 29 of the state’s 32 community and technical colleges.

In addition, Evergreen noted its leadership among Washington’s public, four-year institutions in time to degree and talked about the lean administrative structure at the College.

On the operational side Evergreen noted the dramatic reduction in utility costs the College has experienced and the virtualization of the College’s server environment reducing electrical and hardware costs.

The Senate Committee will convene again on Thursday, December 15 for a work session focused on higher education graduation and post-college employment.

House Appropriations Committee Moves Early Action Budget Proposal

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Early this morning the House Ways & Means Committee passed legislation that will reduce the current budget shortfall by $479.9 million.

The Committee considered a handful of amendments and passed three that were technical in nature. The bill now goes to the House floor for consideration as early as this afternoon.

On the Senate side, the Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold an executive session on the Senate’s early action budget proposal this afternoon.

House Higher Education Committee Meets to Discuss Range of Issues

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This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee met for both a public hearing and a work session.

Public Hearing – HB 2158

The Committee heard the first bill of the special session – House Bill 2158. The bill adds Project Lead-the-Way examinations to the examinations that may be taken in high school to demonstrate college-level skills and for the purpose of meeting certain lower division general education or postsecondary professional technical education requirements.

Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is a non-profit organization that offers Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education curricular programs used in middle and high schools across the U.S. The PLTW programs engage students in activities, projects, and problembased learning which provides hands-on classroom experiences and allows students to create, discover, collaborate and solve problems and apply what they learn in math and science.

Work Session

The Committee focused an hour long work session on two critical issues for higher education: (1) student outcomes and (2) state and federal work study programs.

Student Outcomes

Earlier in December the Washington Education Research & Data Center (ERDC), a part of the Office of Financial Management, launched a dashboard that focuses on student outcomes for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions.

This afternoon the Committee received an overview of the dashboard from the authors including staff of the ERDC and Council of Presidents.

The Committee engaged with the authors of the dashboard in a conversation about the vision legislators have for the dashboard. Legislators commented to the need to be able to view data for education from a systematic point of view, the need for data that shows the connection between student choice and institutional markets, where are students employed after graduation, and financial-related data for students, state funding, and institutional expenses.

State and Federal Work Study Programs

For the second part of the work session the Committee focused on better understanding both state and fedeal work study programs.  The Higher Education Coordinating Board provided in-depth overview of the two programs and their impact on students.

Washington House and Senate Release Early Budget Action Proposals

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After a long weekend of discussions and negotiations, the Washington House and Senate each released an early budget action proposal.

Both proposals woud reduce the current budget shortfall, estimated at $1.4 billion, by $479.7 million. Nearly $51 million in both of the proposals will come from new revenue earned from quicker conversions of unclaimed property by the Department of Revenue. In addition, the proposals reduce agency and program budgets by $96.5 million with an additional $226.4 million in policy level changes. Finally the remainder of the funds come from $23.6 million in fund tranfers and an additional $82 million in unspent money from the prior biennium.

The proposals make minor changes to higher education.  Both proposals invest $1 million in the Aerospace Training Student Loan Program for students in certain aerospace training or educational programs. In addition both proposals reduce funding to higher education institutions to reflect savings in Washington’s Workers’ Compensation program due to reform legislation that passed during the 2011 legislative session.

The early action proposals by the Legislature still leave a $1.5 billion (approx. $900 million budget shortfall/ approx. $600 million in reserves) budget problem to be resolved in the 2012 supplemental session. It is expected that to reach a balanced approach the Legislature will need to enact additional reductions and administrative reforms as well as consider a revenue package(s).

In the meantime with an eye to adjournment as early as Friday, the House Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on their respective proposals this afternoon. The House Ways & Means Committee has also scheduled an executive session on the House proposal tomorrow morning.

Senate Higher Education Committee Focuses on Impacts to Degrees and Programs

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This morning the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee convened a work session focused on the ebb and flow of curriculum at Washington’s higher education institutions.

Academic leaders from the six, public baccalaureate institutions and the community and technical colleges shared with the committee the degrees and courses universities and colleges have eliminated, added, or modified over the last five years.

Evergreen shared the dynamic nature of the College’s curriculum. Specifically the College spoke to what degrees have been eliminated and the significant modifications of existing degree programs over the last five years. Evergreen has not added any degree programs.

Evergreen also spoke to the impact of state funding reductions on academics. Evergreen highlighted that though the College’s dynamic curriculum has allowed the institution to respond as best it could, access, quality, flexibility, and time to degree all have been impacted significantly.

The Senate Committee will convene again on Tuesday, December 13 for a work session focused on efficiencies in higher education.

President Obama Invites Higher Education Leaders to White House

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On Monday in a private meeting President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met with a dozen higher education presidents and representatives from the Lumina Foundation and the Delta Project to discuss affordability and productivity in higher education.

The majority of presidents in attendance were from public institutions and represented institutions that had done something about reducing spending or improving student learning. Among the institutions represented included the Western Governors University, Berea College, and Carnegie Mellon University.

The group discussed how to curb the rising cost of college and improve graduation rates. Reports suggest that the conversation focused on how to drive down tuition, how to improve affordability and graduation rates through innovation, and the right role of the federal government in meeting these goals.

Governor Releases 2012 Supplemental Capital Budget

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Yesterday Governor Gregoire released her proposed 2012 supplemental capital budget.  The proposed capital budget makes a handful of changes to higher education capital funding, but does not alter Evergreen’s capital funding for FY2012.

These include:

  • Reducing the state building construction account at the state level for the Jobs Act for K-12 Public Schools & Higher Education Institutions by $225,000
  • Reducing the Bid Savings Contingency Pool by $6.5 million
  • Funding $246,000 for the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board
  • Reducing funds to the UW for Anderson Hall Renovation by $1.553 million
  • Funding UW Minor Capital Repairs $4.019 million
  • Reducing minor works for health, safety, and code requirements at Eastern Washington University by $157,000
  • Funding for CWU for combined utilities $273,000

Senate Committee Tackles Student Financial Aid

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This afternoon the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee held a work session focused on student financial aid.

Committee members received an overview of Washington’s State Need Grant and State Work Study programs. In particular the Committee heard from the Higher Education Coordinating Board about who is served, how students are served, and the impact of budgetary and policy changes on students

In addition the HECB presented information to the Committee about student loan debt in Washington.

The work session concluded with dialogue between students and committee members regarding the impact of financial aid on students in Washington.

The next meeting of the Senate Committee is scheduled for Thursday, December 8. The Committee will focus on academic programs that have been eliminated, added or modified.

Updates at the Federal Level

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Higher education saw action by the White House, Congress, and the U.S. Department of Education last week.

White House

The White House announced that President Obama had extended an invitation to presidents of ten colleges and unviersities to the White House to discuss affordability and productivity in higher education. Though a list of the presidents invited was not released the invitation to the meeting suggests the focus will be on increasing access and success as well as how to make higher education more affordable. Specifically presidents will be asked for their perspectives on increasing productivity, access and attainment, as well as how to create change at higher education institutions.

The meeting will take place on December 5 and will take the form of a roundtable discussion with President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, White House advisers, and “thought leaders” in higher education.

Congress

Last week the U.S. House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held a hearing on the cost of higher education. The focus was what colleges and universities are currently doing, and what they can do, to make college more affordable for students and families.

Several experts appeared before the Subcommittee to discuss current initiatives to hold down the cost of higehr education, including Jane Wellman, founder and executive director of the Delta Project, Ronald Manahan, President of Grace College & Seminary, Jamie Merisotis, President of the Lumina Foundation, and Tim Foster, President of Colorado Mesa University.

U.S. Department of Education

Before a Federal Student Aid conference last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan focused on college costs. Duncan expressed concerns about the rising prices of higher education and called on the higher education community to “think more creatively and with much greater urgency” about college costs.

In addition he identified several plans for higher education. Among the changes he proposed include replacing the expiring Perkins Loan program with campus-based loans awarded in part on Pell Grant recipient graduation rates; incentive grants rewarding states and institutions for increasing completion rates and closing achievement gaps; and a fund to support innovative programs that hold down tuition.

On a different note the U.S. Department of Education also issued a final rule that will make it easier for states to track students’ academic progress and evaluate education programs. The rule will expand the aiblity of state and local education officials to share student information more widely without violating federal privacy laws. In addition the rule also makes lenders, guarantors, and other agencies with access to student records subject to the law known as FERPA.