Our View

Our View

College funding proposal makes the grade

It has been a priority of Gov. Asa Hutchinson now for some time, and it appears lawmakers are sharing his desire to revamp the way higher education is funded by placing emphasis on productivity rather than enrollment.

Coincidentally, ASU/Mid-South academia is already on top of this concept, and in fact, has in place a highly recognized program that specifically targets student performance and graduation rates.

The success of ASU/Mid-South’s program focuses on identifying student needs, adaptive tutoring and making students confident in their ability to succeed.

It was certainly impressive to learn ASU/Mid-South is ahead of the curve in what Gov. Hutchinson is striving to achieve and what we believe lawmakers will agree upon.

House Bill 1209, sponsored by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, would authorize the Arkansas Department of higher Education to develop rules to implement such a funding model.

The model is a priority of Gov. Hutchinson’s, who has pledged an additional $10 million for the state’s 11 public universities and 22 public community colleges if the Legislature adopts the funding change, which we are confident these lawmakers will do.

As what ASU-Mid-South seems to already be doing, rather than being based on enrollment, the model would reward institutions that advance students toward degrees.

The results already being seen at ASU/Mid-South are said to be similar to what other states that have implemented productivity models which show students achieve more credits and certificates, and the time they needed to earn degrees was shorter.

Under the model being proposed would reward colleges and universities that bestow more credentials – like workforce certificates or diplomas – and help more students progress toward degrees.

What is also attractive with this model is an efficiency gauge that looks at instructional salaries vs.

administrative salaries per student and would reward schools that have lower administrative costs.

To ensure stability, a school could lose no more than 2 percent of funding in one year under the proposed bill, although it could earn more than 2 percent.

What we see this bill doing is requiring public institutions of higher learning to be held accountable for their performance and being rewarded for achieving set goals.

University presidents and college chancellors will be pressured to oversee their instructors to perform at levels some have never done before and expect them to take seriously the task of making sure as many of their students perform at their very best and succeed in obtaining a college degree.

The basic foundation of Gov. Hutchinson’s plan is to use the educational resources Arkansas has to offer to produce a highly educated workforce that will impress any business or industry management looking to set up shop in Arkansas.

The incentives are impressive, the demands reasonable and the goals are absolutely reachable.