Change and Controversy on Campus: the Tough Questions Reporters and Editors Should Ask
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Change and Controversy on Campus: The Tough Questions Reporters and Editors Should Ask A PRIMER FOR JOURNALISTS Photography credits: Front cover © Eileen Barroso Courtesy of Columbia University Back cover © Bob Handelman Courtesy of Columbia University Page 11 © Don Hammerman Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University Page 32 © Eileen Barroso Courtesy of Columbia University Dig Deeper to Answer Questions About Higher Education Rising costs, limited access and complicated financial aid merit a closer look by reporters. By Richard Lee Colvin and Liz Willen It’s easy for journalists who cover higher education to inflation? Is it fine that only half of our students gradu- get bogged down in institutional coverage. Tuition ate on time? Is it fine that students graduate from col- increases, faculty fights, policy changes and seemingly lege so saddled with debt that they can’t buy a home or endless campus controversies provide plenty of copy start a family?’’ and can make compelling headlines. But with higher The goal of this primer is to encourage reporters to education under a microscope—from business leaders, ask their own questions. How do the ideals of higher parents, foundations and, most recently, U.S. Secretary education match the reality in the communities you of Education Margaret Spellings and her Commission cover? The topics addressed briefly below and in on the Future of Higher Education—reporters must greater depth throughout the primer play out nationally probe more deeply. The public wants answers. What and on local campuses, with professors, college presi- are students learning in college, why does college cost dents, students, employers and policymakers all taking so much and why is financial aid so complicated and dif- lead roles. Exploring them in any depth will require ficult to navigate? spending time on campus and asking questions about The commission stated in its September 2006 the local labor market and the economy, about the ben- report that college students are learning less than in the efits of higher education as well as about who should past, and Spellings herself called higher education “dan- bear the costs of those benefits. It meanstalking to the gerously complacent.’’ She also posed her own set of players about whether college is opening doors for challenges: “Is it fine that college tuition has outpaced those who have for too long stood outside, uninvited. Community Colleges [page 4] Access for Low-Income Students Nearly half of American college students attend [page 7] community colleges, but journalists spend little time Prominent coverage is almost guaranteed when elite exploring the stories that can be found there. Com- universities announce an end to early admission pro- munity college enrollment totals 11.6 million, with grams that favor the wealthy or give poorer students about 6.6 million of those students taking traditional breaks with free and reduced tuition. State universities college courses for credit and the rest taking non- are beginning to extend benefits to working-class fam- credit courses—training related to work, learning to ilies as well, a sign that higher education is recognizing speak English, mastering Microsoft Word, learning that problems of access reach across a broad spec- pottery. Community colleges also address the press- trum of society, writes Hechinger Institute Assistant ing problem of where Americans can get the skills Director Liz Willen. There are fascinating stories wait- they need to land a decent-paying job at a time of ing to be told about how and whether U.S. colleges are spreading economic and cultural globalization and doing a good job of searching for and accepting low- advancing technology. David Wessel, the deputy income students, and then helping them succeed once Washington bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, they arrive on campus. Are they prepared for the work- points out in his essay that community colleges offer load that awaits them? Is there help available if they opportunity for low-income, first generation, stu- fall behind? Are colleges taking steps to help those dents of color and adult learners. They serve as a who are likely to need help before they get discour- window into economic and demographic changes aged and drop out? What is it like for low-income stu- and provide journalists with a powerful way to hold dents at the nation’s 146 most selective campuses, other parts of the educational system accountable. where they make up just 3 percent of the students? cont’d > A Primer for Journalists 1 Are Hispanic Students costs of college. But there is growing concern that Well-Served? [page 10] students are graduating with too much debt of all While total college enrollment in the United States types and that repaying $50,000 or $100,000 or increased 120 percent between 1990 and 2003, His- more in private loans will saddle borrowers with panic college enrollment jumped 212 percent. That’s unimaginable debt loads, writes Hechinger Institute a good news story. But Hispanic students are still far Director Richard Lee Colvin. more likely than other students to attend community colleges, and their graduation rates remain low. “I The Growing Presence of would say we are truly in a crisis situation,” said For-Profit Education [page 16] Eugene Garcia, dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College For-profit education is a $15 billion business, and the of Education at Arizona State University, to reporter number of students signing up is growing at a rate of Emily Sachar of Bloomberg News. First-, second- and between 7 percent to 10 percent per year, according even third-generation Hispanic students start school to EduVentures, a Boston-based consulting group. behind and, though they make progress, don’t fully Some 1.2 million students attend for-profit colleges, catch up. out of the 17.4 million enrolled in all of postsec- ondary education, according to U.S. Census data Private Loans: Risk and Reward and the National Center for Education Statistics. For [page 13] many students—particularly adults seeking job-spe- Education loans are a fact of life for all but the cific skills—for-profit schools may make a lot of wealthiest students. Pell Grants for needy students sense, writes Emily Sachar of Bloomberg News. have increased in overall volume but haven’t kept up When such companies are publicly traded, though, with tuition. Federal loan limits—$23,000 for under- the pressure to add students intensifies. That’s led grads—haven’t kept up either. PLUS loans, which to lawsuits charging that schools are illegally paying are unsubsidized government loans, aren’t available bonuses to recruiters based on the number of stu- to everyone. All of that has created a demand for pri- dents they sign up—and created some interesting vate higher education loans—which are market- stories for higher education reporters. based loans with adjustable interest rates that are priced like credit cards. In other words, those with Are College Students Learning? the least need to borrow the money pay the lowest [page 19] interest rates. According to the College Board, pri- Are you asking college administrators or professors vate education loans accounted for 25 percent of how they know students are learning? Don’t be sat- education borrowing in 2005-2006. But some in the isfied by statistics on how many students pass their industry think it's actually higher. The volume of pri- classes or how many get A’s. A rising chorus of crit- vate loans—offered by Sallie Mae, the largest ics maintains that many graduates are unprepared provider, as well as banks, and specialty finance for either the job market or for graduate and profes- companies—is growing by 30 percent to 40 percent sional school, writes Hechinger Institute senior fel- per year. Such loans are now routinely packaged low Gene I. Maeroff. Efforts underway to measure with the financial aid award letter sent out by col- just how much college students are learning should leges and they undoubtedly are an important means inspire reporters to probe what students are actually of ensuring that students are able to pay the rising getting out of their college education. 2 Change and Controversy on Campus: The Tough Questions Reporters and Editors Should Ask Drinking on Campus: Out local funding per student, according to an annual of Control? [page 22] study of the Colorado-based State Higher Education One clear truth emerged from the allegations of a Executive Officers. And tuition and fees at public sexual attack on a stripper by members of the Duke four-year institutions are still up by 35 percent from University lacrosse team near the Durham, N.C., five years ago after adjusting for inflation, according campus last spring: Great quantities of alcohol were to a 2006 report by the College Board. Such involved. The incident served to deepen fears about increases raise questions about the fundamental bad behavior and dangerous consequences when mission of public universities, which enroll about 80 young people drink to excess, Jane Stancill of the percent of U.S. college students, writes Kavita News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., writes. The statis- Kumar, who covers higher education for the St. Louis tics are frightening: A 2002 report from the National Post-Dispatch. Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said drinking contributed to 1,400 deaths, 500,000 Women: The New Majority injuries, 600,000 assaults and 70,000 sexual on Campus [page 31] assaults among adults aged 18 to 24 annually. Stan- Women are now in the majority on many campuses, cill advises reporters to put the issue into context by and they are doing better academically as well. finding data that looks at drinking on local cam- There’s also a widening gender gap among low- puses over time.