Saturday, September 28, 2013

Federal Government Picks and Chooses Colleges "Worthy" of Funding

           “President Obama has proposed rating colleges on several criteria, including graduates’ earnings. Colleges that do well in those ratings would get more federal financial aid.” The Department of Education is considering collecting this data to help students select a college to attend. However, state officials do not want federal funding attached to students’ job success based on salary.  Some academics are insulted because a liberal arts degree may be underrated based on the graduate’s earnings. Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, states that “it’s devaluing what higher education really means.”  After the disclosure of the National Security Administration’s collection of emails and cell phone information, some congressmen are not ready to start collecting graduates’ earning information.
            The federal government is trying to fabricate a formula grant for state colleges based on the computations of previous graduates’ salary. By devaluing certain colleges, this will reduce government spending. However, specific majors will be negatively impacted. I personally believe the federal government should not influence academic institutions by denying funding. The university administration is responsible for college’s academic programs and the students are responsible for their own success. The federal government is overreaching across state government programs by attaching federal funds to college graduates' salaries.

2 comments:

  1. I fully agree with your view on this Natalie. I don't feel as though the govt. should use graduates incomes to base funding. Partly because many graduates go off to never use the degrees they earned, and make a killer income in another profession, and on the other hand, graduates who may have an education degree from a top school in the field will still not make as much as someone who may have a business major from a less prominent institution. By basing financial aid on income, it would sway future students from pursuing degrees that are necessary in the workforce.

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  2. After reading this article I completely agree with you two. Choosing to further one's education shouldn't be solely based on earnings from graduates. College is about focusing on a certain field and as Amy Laitinen says in the article, "If you just look at generic earnings by sector and then earnings a couple of years out, we’re going to miss the real impact that those skills have.”

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