Who Benefits from College

As I was driving into work late the other day, I was sick and slept in a bit, I overheard a story on the Diane Rehm Show called, “Who Benefits from College and Why.” As I listened to this story, which was excellent, my mind drifted to whom the panelists were; Isabel Sawhill, a senior fell of economic studies at the Brookings Institution; Nina Marks, president of Collegiate Directions Inc.; and Robert Lerman, professor of economics at American University. All highly respected in their fields with decades of experience.

As I got closer to work I wondered where these experts went to school. It turns out, according to their biographies, they went to New York University, Wellesley College, Brandeis, MIT, and Harvard (Marks only listed Harvard). According to Google Maps it is 15.4 miles from MIT to Wellesley College with Harvard and Brandeis University ‘in-between’; New York University is the odd man out.

Now that I knew where these guests went to school I wondered: where is the diversity of thought, experience, and perspective from these panelists?

First of all I do not question the credentials, the accomplishments, or the notoriety of the panelists. I do not question the status of the institutions where the panelists were educated. I do not question the research or the valid points that each of them contributed to the show.

But the sad reality is that many schools in this country are cash strapped. I am not talking about the schools that make the news everyday or the football/basketball schools that are always playing for NCAA championships; I am talking about the schools that educate the majority of undergraduates in this country without fanfare or large endowments. Because of the Great Recession, reduced funding from state governments, unfocused business plans, dated educational priorities, the inability to change, legacy costs, etc. many higher education institutions are struggling.

One metric that people use to compare institutions is the funding per student. Below are examples of funding per student at four institutions in Massachusetts:

Wellesley College:

Wellesley College has an endowment of around $1.5 billion, with around 2,300 students, and an endowment per student of approximately $652k.

Brandeis University:

Brandeis has an endowment of around $703 million, with around 5,828 students (undergraduate and graduate), and endowment per student of approximately $120k.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst:

University of Massachusetts at Amherst has an endowment around $210 million, with around 28,084 students enrolled (undergraduate and graduate), and an endowment per student of approximately $7,477.

Bunker Hill Community College:

Bunker HIll Community College does not have an endowment but the Massachusetts FY2012 budget allocated around $17.4 million to Bunker Hill Community College (not including a federal grant), with around 14,000 students enrolled (undergraduate; two-year associate), and funding per student of approximately $1,242

What do these numbers mean? The amount of money per student shows how much institutions theoretically have to spend on educating their students. Institutions such as community colleges and small to medium sized four-year colleges and universities are tasked with educating high risk students with minimal funding. Other institutions, such as Amherst has enough funding to focus on student learning and compete with other institutions for national prestige. Elite institutions have so much money beyond what is needed to support student learning that it is used to enhance prestige and maintain exclusivity (high educational standards are rarely questioned at these types of schools by anyone).

I would like to see this same discussion that occurred on the Diane Rehm Show but with a different panel; Sawhill would be included because she authored the study but include a president from a community college, a professor from a directional school, and a middle to low income college prep director from a major metropolitan area ideally from the south. I also would like to see these people’s degrees coming from a variety of places, not just Boston or New York.

Why do I want this ‘alternative’ discussion? To be honest, part of it is my own anti-elitism but more importantly I want to hear first hand accounts of what people are doing everyday to improve higher education in this country. I want to know what community colleges are doing, what directional schools are doing, and even what for-profits are doing to help undergraduates prepare for life after college. I want to know what Mesa Community College, Jackson State University, University of Texas at El Paso, Missouri State University, and the like are doing to help their students and their localities succeed. I want to know what all the cash strapped institutions are doing to help adults learn and prepare for the future without the help of billion dollar endowments.