Community College Grant Fund Requirements Clearer
Last week, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the $4 billion Race to the Top Fund, which makes grants available to states but with strings attached, like easing restrictions on charter schools and linking teacher pay to student achievement. Now, the strings attached to a similar, even larger $9 billion grant fund for community colleges are clearer, and the extent of the requirements to earn the money has surprised some community college leaders, the Chronicle of Higher Ed reports.
The requirements, laid out in a House of Representatives student aid bill that is awaiting floor action, include setting goals tied to program completion, workforce preparation, and job placement. Though grant recipients could choose their own benchmarks, they would have to be approved by Duncan.
Most community college presidents agree that the government should expect results in return for its funding. But many campus leaders and analysts worry that the bill's strings could have unintended consequences, like "rewarding institutions and states that set their sights low or encouraging colleges to tighten their admissions standards to meet graduation goals," the report says. Community college presidents also worry that the bill might lead to federal meddling in two-year college curricula and that $9 billion will not be enough to accomplish the broad changes Obama and Duncan have in mind.
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Tags: colleges | community colleges
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Reader Comments
HELP ANY SUGGESTIONS
My name is Kamaria Woods. I am supposed to be a incoming freshman at Hampton University any suggestion on how I can get rest of my fees for school. I need another 18,224 for school.I have anything please know because I truly do want to go to school and I will the first person in my family to go to college.
Community College's Administrations too bloated
Over a 30 year teaching career in a very large, multicampus community college, the greatest disappointment was the bloated bureacracy that grew steadily each decade. This bloating results in intertia and an institutional mentality that stiles innovation. More and more the faculty have less and less say about curriculum,course offerings, class size or any number of things that have been the traditional purvue of faculty. Another trend that is most troubling: importing new administrators every 3-5 years. Much of this can be blamed on fickle governing Boards, but there is a culture of moving out and moving up amongst administrators, which causes a loss of institutional culture.
An interesting side effect of this grant program will be the hiring of countless mid level bureaucrats to monitor compliance and reporting and seek out more funding, which will require more bureaucrats to monitor....and on it goes. In the meantime, class size increases and instructional support decreases, all in the name of securing more funds.
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