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A bright spot
Thursday, Feb 18, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller * Illinois has had a “performance-based funding” statute on the books (Public Act 097-0320) since 2011. The idea is pretty good and it has received some national kudos. A brief explanation from the governor’s office…
* This is an incentive program. But the state hasn’t put much money behind the effort in the past, so the schools haven’t really paid much attention to it. In FY 15, for instance, just $6 million was allocated for universities and only $352K for community colleges. Gov. Rauner’s new budget has greatly upped the ante, with $50 million for four-year schools, and over $9 million for community colleges. * The problems facing higher education right now are existential, with several schools on the brink of closing. So, this program is admittedly small-ball stuff. But it’s also the sort of thing we should be doing more of… if only we had a budget.
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- VanillaMan - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:04 pm:
You know that car you refuse to put gasoline in because you won’t agree in the direction the folks in the back seat want to go in, Governor?
It already has the options you are demanding.
Tank up, get in, shut up and govern already!
- Stuff Happens - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:13 pm:
Ah yes, the old entitlement argument.
“I paid for school, so therefore I deserve a degree.”
So schools either lower their standards when issuing degrees, or they really tighten their admission standards and don’t let in anyone who might not finish on time.
- Ghost - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:14 pm:
if you drop the anti union crazy, there is some good stuff on the gov side…. and it will never see the light of daywhile Rauner engages in a Milagro Beanfield War on behalf of the govt against the bean farmer afscme…..
- Joe M - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:18 pm:
Completion rates at the Illinois state universities have been pressured by the almost doubling of tuition rates for students over the last 12 years or so. The universities had double the tuition rates to make up for some of the cutting in half in real dollars, of state appropriations they received annually over that same time period.
- TheMulletSpeaks - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:22 pm:
I am a professor at a large southern Illinois university. We have been working on those performance metrics for years. All of that and a whole lot more is being undone by the lack of a budget. We have already sustained serious long term damage, and the longer this goes on, the more dire it gets. Faculty who are in a position to move are looking for jobs in other states. We are already seeing disturbing signs that students are voting with their feet and are increasingly headed out of state for their college education. Our research capability is being destroyed. I’m one of the people who teaches the people who are going to be your doctors and other healthcare professionals. You should be worried.
- History Prof - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:22 pm:
“Stuff Happens” beat me to it. All of these “measures” are based on the skin of the apple. There is no incentive here to actually teach anything and some of those apples are pretty mealy.
But of course actual academics aren’t typically on the boards or the IBHE. So . . . . If you have an administrator who knows what she is doing and isn’t just playing for the next job, well that’s just a matter of luck. It’s not like anyone on the board knew what he or she was looking at. THAT apple is rotten to the core.
Oh wait . . . “business people” know how to run everything. Sorry, I forgot.
- Scamp640 - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:23 pm:
It is a good thing to have accountability in higher education. However, if you want higher graduation rates, it requires that universities invest in a support system (e.g. academic counseling, technology support, and smaller class sizes, to name just a few issues) to keep students enrolled and on pace to graduate. It makes zero sense to cut university support and then ask universities to increase graduation rates. This is just punitive.
- My New Handle - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:23 pm:
Of course, finishing within those parameters, or transferring from a cc to a u, assumes the students can afford it. Years ago when I was in college, I could fulltime in the summer and earn most of my tuition and board. Today, I think it takes nearly a year to accomplish the same. If course, a student can drive herself or himself into a loan debt that may take 20 years to repay. Performance based on the standards above is largely a red herring to cover the real reasons, most of which are related to the cost of education.
- My New Handle - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:25 pm:
Sorry, I meant “work” fulltime over the summer.
Scamp640 also makes a bery valid point.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:27 pm:
The problem with the current setup is that for every extra dollar you give one school based on performance, you have to take it from another school. If all 12 public universities improve, some still lose money for not improving as much as the others.
- Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:31 pm:
=So schools either lower their standards when issuing degrees, or they really tighten their admission standards and don’t let in anyone who might not finish on time.=
There are so many negative unintended consequences with this setup.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:39 pm:
I’d love to know who whispered this in your ear Rich, but more than that, I’d like to know if this incentive program is open to all college and universities or only the public schools.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:46 pm:
47th Ward
It is taken out of the allocation for the public schools and redistributed based on their performance metrics.
- thechampaignlife - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 2:46 pm:
Here’s an idea (maybe not a good one):
Provide in-state tuition to everyone. Add a loan at graduation for the out-of-state differential, forgiven 20% per year if they stay in state.
Stay in state for at least 5 years after graduation (regardless whether you were in-state or out-of-state to begin with), you get the in-state rate.
Or possibly even free tuition after 10 years. Those with a 4 year degree earn $1M more over their lifetime which should more than cover the cost if you can keep them here.
- Former Hoosier - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 3:28 pm:
My daughter is a junior in high school and will be leaving Illinois to attend college. Her college counselor did not recommend any state schools in Illinois. Once the brain drain starts, it might not end.
- DuPage - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 3:29 pm:
In community colleges in particular, some of the performance measurements are not completely accurate. Many CC students are adults that are taking a few classes to improve their own knowledge or technical skills and not looking for the certificate or degree. There would need to be a distinction so these people would not count as some type of failure on the part of the community college. The community colleges and universities are in Rauner’s starvation death march. The legislature should put language in any budget prohibiting any money being spent on this until the community colleges and universities are paid the money they are already owed.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 3:49 pm:
Sen. Righter and Rep. Crespo have had bills to increase the percentage going into the performance funding program for the past several years. There is interest in heavier investments in this program from both sides of the aisle.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 4:22 pm:
DuPage touches on a very important point that makes it difficult to use would would seem to be pretty basic performance metrics, especially for CCs.
It’s difficult to know what a student’s learning goal is. Many students attend CC to take a couple of classes for transfer or job skills. Others see no need to finish the paperwork to collect the degree or certificate because they do not need it for transfer or the job they want. Many CC students work full time and take a few classes a year for many years.
The trick for meaningful measurement of success will be to track students’ goals and then see if the students achieved their personal goals. Of course, that is not a simple project…
- burbanite - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 4:22 pm:
The Mullet Speaks words of wisdom and words we have not yet heard. Yes the flight of our best academics who certainly have other options. Destruction of research capabilities. 100 years of progress already being lost. I don’t like rubrics for grading and I don’t like this for the same reason. One size does not fit all. As Dupage pointed out, many CC students are older with families etc. we cannot know what plays into some failures to complete. The death of a loved one, loss of a home in foreclosure, loss of your MAP grant, these are all reasons not attributable to the institution itself. Is it realistic to have the same expectation for CSU students and ISU students? I don’t think so.
I taught at a for profit higher ed institution and let me tell you, that is not the better option, that is why I left.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 4:39 pm:
The metrics are weighted differently based on the Carnigie classification of the school so CSU is not measured the same as UIUC.
- Mama - Thursday, Feb 18, 16 @ 5:33 pm:
Some kids/adults do not have the money to take a full load. I do not feel those students or the university/community college should be penalized when students need more time to finish their degree.
- FPJ - Friday, Feb 19, 16 @ 8:27 am:
@Stuff Happens and @History Prof: Absolutely right. These “well meaning” performance metrics will have exactly the opposite of what everyone hoped they would have. Rather than improving university education, they will just encourage grade inflation and passing unprepared students along. Just wait until faculty evaluations and pay are tied to these metrics, as is the goal of “education reformers” at the various private foundations who take an interest in education.