State Higher Education Commission Urges Indiana Schools to Graduate 10,000 More Students a Year

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:58:00 GMT

A new plan unveiled Monday by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education calls for the state-supported colleges and universities in Indiana to graduate 10,000 more students with bachelor’s degrees each year — an increase of 33 percent — and to graduate these students in just four years, according to the Associated Press (“Indiana Seeks 10,000 More College Graduates a Year,” Sept. 9, 2008).

Under the proposed plan, Indiana would rank among the top 10 states in the nation for college degree completion by 2012. Indiana is currently 10th in the nation for the number of its high school graduates who enroll in college — 62 percent — but 57 percent of the state’s college students take six years to graduate and only 36 percent graduate within four years.

“We want more degrees and we want them on time,” said commission member Gerald Bepko, former chancellor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

To motivate state schools to improve their four-year graduation rates — a move that the commission contends will reduce students’ college costs and student loan debt — the commission proposes that state funding be tied to a college’s degree completion rate rather than its enrollment growth.

“They used to say, ‘Give us more money and we’ll do a better job,’ ” said Stan Jones, state commissioner of higher education. “We’re saying, ‘Do a better job and we’ll give you more money.’ ”

The commission also hopes to build up the state’s community college system to make it easier, financially, for students to complete their bachelor’s degree in four years. The commission recommends that community colleges work to double their enrollment over the next 10 years and make the first two years of community college tuition free for students whose families earn less than $50,000 a year.

The plan would, in addition, make more families eligible for state financial aid by raising income limits.

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Community Colleges Want to Control How Much Certain Students Can Borrow in Student Loans

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:54:00 GMT

Concerned that some students at two-year schools may borrow more in federal student loans than they can afford to repay, community college officials want the federal government to give community colleges control over how much their students can borrow in federal aid.

Community colleges want the authority to deny some of their own students the right to take out federally subsidized loans, because the schools believe that some students may not earn enough after graduation to repay their student loan debt, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Community Colleges Want Their Authority, Not Banks,’ Over Student Borrowing,” June 18, 2008).

The change is needed because colleges currently have no way of preventing a student from taking out a college loan that doesn’t make economic sense given the student’s long-term job prospects, says David Baime, vice president of government relations for the American Association of Community Colleges.

The association, which represents more than 1,200 institutions nationwide, is pushing for legislation that would give community colleges the right to control how much their students can borrow, rather than being at the mercy of private lenders who can stop lending to certain schools at any time. The AACC is lobbying for this authority after a recent move by some of the nation’s biggest banks to stop offering student loans to certain community colleges and other two-year institutions.

The banks’ decision to cease lending to these schools also prompted Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Christopher Dodd to introduce legislation that would prohibit lenders from ‘cherry-picking’ which schools they do business with.

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Student Loan Blog : student loan debt, Community Colleges

State Higher Education Commission Urges Indiana Schools to Graduate 10,000 More Students a Year

Community Colleges Want to Control How Much Certain Students Can Borrow in Student Loans