Major Updates

  • New COVID Relief Bill Passes with $23B Emergency Support for Higher Education; Includes Broadband Support, FAFSA Simplification and Federal Aid Eligibility for Incarcerated Students
    Following months of inaction, Congress has passed a massive COVID relief package, attached to the spending bill which averted a government shutdown. While UPCEA and others have argued that the amounts allocated for pandemic relief might be insufficient to meet the moment, there are a number of important non-COVID provisions included in the final legislation that are positive reforms for federal higher ed policy. Overall, the bill will distribute approximately $23 billion in aid to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, $9 billion more than was first allocated in the CARES Act in March. Yet that figure is far short of the $120 billion that UPCEA and other organizations have said higher ed may need to weather the pandemic. The recent bill provides a new funding and distribution formula which is more inclusive of distance education students. However the calculation for aid only distributes 2% of the total funding to institutions based on their distance education students, which will likely fall short of reflecting their true representation. The bill does explicitly authorize the use of emergency aid grants for distance education students, which the CARES Act did not. The use of the funds will be similar to the guidelines set under the CARES Act, stating that half must go to students in the form of emergency grants, and the other half be used for institutional uses. Those institutional uses have been more generalized in the recent bill, and can be used to “defray expenses associated with coronavirus (including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll).”The deal includes a number of other non-pandemic changes to higher education policy, all of them quite positive. The FAFSA Simplification Bill of 2019 was added into the final language, which would shorten the 108 question financial aid eligibility form to just 36, making the process easier for prospective students. Passing FAFSA simplification was one of the final pushes of retiring Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who often indicated he wanted to see it passed before leaving office. Other tweaks included increased Pell grant eligibility calculations and a $150 increase in the maximum Pell award amount. These changes, some estimates show, will allow an additional 555,000 students qualify for Pell grants each year, and enable an additional 1.7 million students to qualify to receive the maximum Pell grant award each year. The bill also removes the 26-year-long restriction on allowing incarcerated individuals access to federal financial aid, and repeals a law that restricts federal financial aid for college students who are convicted of a drug crime. It also provides $7 billion for important broadband connectivity support for rural and low-income students, minority serving institutions, and others.

    Link to Full Bill Text
    In-Depth Analysis of Federal Methodology/Student Aid Calculation Changes (NAFSAA)

     

  • Joe Biden Selects Miguel Cardona For Secretary of Education
    Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s first Latino commissioner of education whose career spans from former public school teacher and principal, to later being assistant superintendent and adjunct professor at University of Connecticut, has been chosen as the incoming administration’s Secretary of Education. The pick met what Joe Biden promised for one of his main requirements for the role, someone who is or was a teacher. Cardona will face a number of new initiatives, as well as challenges, on top of the COVID pandemic: student loan forgiveness, a free college push, and changing regulations such as Title IX that were implemented by the Trump Administration.Read more 
  • Federal Financial Aid COVID Relief Period Extended One Month, Potentially Causing Confusion
    The U.S. Department of Education has extended the deadline one month for the COVID-related pause on federal student loan repayment and interest accrual to January 31, 2021. The incoming Biden administration is expected to extend that deadline shortly after assuming office, but it is unclear for how long. The short reprieve has provided some confusion and angst for those figuring out when and how they will repay their loans. It has also caused a unique situation for loan servicers, who have laid off staff due to a reduction in funds from the Department of Education, but are expected to be inundated with requests once the provision has sunsetted. However, more confusion may occur due to the short term extension when servicers will send bills to millions of individuals expecting the deadline to expire, only to reverse course if the Biden Administration acts to extend the date.Read more 
  • U.S. Department of Education Announces Framework for Cybersecurity Governance on Students’ Personal Information
    In an effort to protect students’ information deemed sensitive by the federal government, a framework of the Department’s efforts was introduced in December that governs “Controlled Unclassified Information” (including items like taxpayer information, financial records, personnel records, student records, etc). The effort was announced during the Department’s Federal Student Aid virtual conference.The Department has indicated that it will be requiring all universities to increase efforts around cybersecurity systems to ensure that these institutions are meeting the robust set of requirements defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in their publication, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations. The Department has indicated while they will utilize this framework to guide them, they know that universities may have alternative security protocols. Your institution should be reviewing these protocols to ensure your cybersecurity strategy meets these requirements and fills the spots where they may not.

Other News

As we prepare to launch another semester mostly online, we are facing what may be the most severe mental health crisis in the history of American education. The next three months promise to bring the most dangerous and stressful period in American medicine.

Born of chilling student social and physical isolation off campus; faculty and staff burnout from rebuilding classes in new delivery methods and modes; budget cuts, furloughs and layoffs; depressing learning gaps; stress and fear for health of self, family and friends, a mental health epidemic of epic proportions is rising out of the virus pandemic. It will unfold in the cold, dark months of winter — December, January, February and into March — when the death toll mounts higher and higher before a hoped-for spring of vaccinated immunity begins to bring hope and some measure of mobility and in-person engagement.

The ramifications of this epidemic on top of the pandemic are sure to be long-lasting and pervasive. We are already seeing the beginnings of the mental health epidemic. After so many months of 12-hour workdays and seven-day workweeks, the support staff members who have labored with little recognition to modify and enhance remote-learning modules into online classes are burning out. In a striking article in Educause Review, Patrice Prusko and Whitney Kilgore describe “Burned Out: Stories of Compassion Fatigue”:

To obtain additional perspectives on these challenges, during the summer we interviewed five individuals who work across various roles within instructional design, collecting their stories of burnout and compassion fatigue. (For this article, we have changed their names.) Their candid reports bear witness to the difficulties being faced by so many people during the pandemic, and their stories also speak to the work being done on the front lines of higher education in the midst of this crisis.

Too often we use the term “burnout” loosely. Yet it is a defined condition. “Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism and ineffectiveness in the workplace, and by chronic negative responses to stressful workplace conditions. While not considered a mental illness, burnout can be considered a mental health issue,” according to Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.

Burnout is characterized by a wide array of symptoms that may include increased errors, fatigue, suspiciousness, inefficiency and increased use of alcohol and drugs. These, in turn, can lead to far worse outcomes in terms of career, self-image, physical health, depression and personal success. Beth McMurtrie writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Burnout is a problem in academe even in the best of times. Shrinking budgets, growing workloads, and job insecurity in a profession where self-sufficiency is both expected and prized put many faculty members at risk before Covid-19 placed higher education on even shakier footing.”

In EdSurgeKevin R. McClure writes, “It’s not a question of whether higher education institutions will see a significant uptick in burnout among staff, faculty and graduate students this fall. The more important question is how college leaders will address it.” McClure suggests that campuses break the “silence and stigma” of burnout on campus. We need to simplify work where possible and find flexible solutions. We must be alert to signs of burnout in our colleagues. We must take actions to head off this epidemic that is riding on the back of the pandemic on our campuses. We must be proactive to avoid the huge toll that may be taken on co-workers, their careers and their future.

Of course, the peer-reviewed research on the mental health toll of the pandemic is just beginning to emerge, given the time required for studies, peer reviews and publications. But the early findings are not good. In “Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a sharp increase in depression is reported. And in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abusebinge drinking is reported to have soared.

I am sounding the alarm now to alert readers that the next three months may bring struggle and harm to our faculty, staff and students. In these dark winter days and nights until spring when meaningful deployment of vaccines arrives in March, a grim toll will be taken. Burnout will spread, bringing depression, frustration and dismay among the most dedicated people at your university. Productivity will fall, judgment will fail and absenteeism will rise. All of this will take place as budgets, programs and personnel are inevitably cut due to the direct and indirect impact of the pandemic.

It will require a heroic effort to head off this shadow of the deadly pandemic. Who is leading the effort at your campus to maintain morale, bring sensible flexibility to rules, empower employees to pursue efficiencies and proactively intervene to lift up faculty, staff and students who are falling victim to burnout and looming depression?

This article marks Ray’s 200th edition of his “Online: Trending Now” blog posts.

 

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.

20 Recipients Chosen For Special 2020 Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 7, 2020 — UPCEA, the leader in professional, continuing, and online education, has announced the recipients of the 2020 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award and the 2020 UPCEA Crisis Management Marketing Award.

In light of the challenges facing UPCEA members, who are leading their institutions in pivoting towards new modalities due to the pandemic, the 2020 awards program was simplified to recognize the Excellence in Enrollment Management Award and the Crisis Management Marketing Award. Both awards are sponsored by UPCEA’s Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Services Network. Recipients were honored on December 3 at the virtual 2020 Marketing and Enrollment Management Seminar.

 

The UPCEA Excellence in Enrollment Management Award recognizes an outstanding professional, continuing, and/or online (PCO) organization (unit or individual) that models best practices and combines process excellence with superior results in enrollment management. 

 

The 2020 recipient is: 

University of Arkansas Global Campus Student Outreach and Innovation

University of Arkansas Office of Student Outreach and Innovation

Student Outreach and Innovation Team

 

The UPCEA Crisis Management Marketing Award recognizes an outstanding professional, continuing, and/or online (PCO) organization (unit or individual) that has demonstrated the ability to pivot their marketing and implement new plans during these testing times. 

The 2020 recipients are:

 

GOLD

Webinar Marketing Strategy During COVID-19

Brandman University

 

Northwestern University School of Professional Studies Crisis Management Marketing Award Submission

Northwestern University

 

Spring/Summer 2020 Advertising Campaign: This way forward

Ryerson University, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education

 

SILVER

One Hour @ UBC Community Lecture Series

University of British Columbia Extended Learning

 

University of Washington Continuum College Crisis Management Award

University of Washington Continuum College

UW Continuum College Marketing Team

 

UNC Charlotte Professional Webinar Series

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

UNC Charlotte Continuing Education

 

The CSSW Webinar Series for Faculty Transitioning to Teaching Online Due to the Pandemic

Columbia University

Columbia School of Social Work Online Campus

 

Marketing Benefits of Online Learning: Nexus’ Professional Education Pivot

University of Michigan, College of Engineering

Nexus, University of Michigan College of Engineering

 

Continuing Studies Emergency Benefit

York University School of Continuing Studies

 

UNC Charlotte Distance Education Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy 2020 Campaign

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 

UNC Charlotte Summer School Recruitment Campaign 2020

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 

School of Continuing Studies Virtual Groundbreaking

York University School of Continuing Studies

 

BRONZE

CSUF Extension & International Programs – Fullerton Arboretum

California State University, Fullerton

 

UMaine Summer Start

University of Maine

 

#LetsContinYU Campaign

York University School of Continuing Studies

 

CSUF Extension & International Programs Crisis Management Marketing Award – New Programming

California State University, Fullerton

 

Catholic University of America

LaShay Long, Director, Admissions and Communications

 

Transitioning to Remote Learning, UB’s Center for Educational Innovation

University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, Center for Educational Innovation

 

Aggie Strong Campaign

Utah State University

 

Congratulations to all of the 2020 Award recipients!

 

# # #

 

UPCEA is the leading association for professional, continuing, and online education. Founded in 1915, UPCEA now serves the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America. The association supports its members with innovative conferences and specialty seminars, research and benchmarking information, professional networking opportunities and timely publications. Based in Washington, D.C., UPCEA builds greater awareness of the vital link between adult learners and public policy issues. Learn more at upcea.edu.

 

CONTACT:

Molly Nelson, UPCEA Vice President of Communications and Marketing, 202.659.3130, [email protected]

 

Keith BaileyLong-time UPCEA member and colleague Keith Bailey (1970-2020) passed away in early December 2020. Dr. Bailey served as Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean of WVU Online at West Virginia University. In this role, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of both WVU Online and the University’s Teaching and Learning Commons. Dr. Bailey previously served as the Director of the Office of Online Learning at the University of Georgia and as the Assistant Dean for eLearning at the Penn State University’s College of Arts and Architectures. 

As well as being an active PCO professional, Dr. Bailey contributed to UPCEA in many ways, having served on various Online Leadership Roundtable Advisory Councils and UPCEA Networks and subcommittees, as a program reviewer for the Summit for Online Leadership and Administration, and as a speaker, moderator, and attendee at a wide range of events and convenings.

Those who knew Dr. Bailey characterize him as an innovative thinker and a visionary leader. He was both highly collaborative and a joy to spend time with. UPCEA extends its heartfelt condolences to the Bailey family. Dr. Bailey is survived by his wife and three children. Colleagues are invited to share remembrances of Keith here. His obituary is found here.  

 

As we prepare to launch another semester mostly online, we are better informed than we were in the spring and fall semesters. From experiences with rapidly applied pedagogies to better understanding of how our students’ radically altered lives impact their learning, we must adapt.

This past spring semester marked a heroic response to the coronavirus that prompted radical change in the mode of delivery of much of higher education — a change that will continue to influence the way learning is accessed from this point forward. So, what did we learn?

First and foremost, we learned that we must be prepared for future pandemics, natural disasters or other breakdowns that disrupt our educational institutions and systems. Further, we learned that, in this instance, we were prepared to launch remote learning initiatives across the country to help protect our students and staff while delivering the curriculum, albeit in some cases in less than optimal presentations. We now have models upon which we must improve and expand to assure continuity of curriculum delivery in cases of disruptions.

Second, we learned that during such a disaster as this one that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives, and caused massive disruption with mental health effects in the lives of students, faculty and staff, the mental health ramifications continue. They are not fully recognized and reported. They vary widely depending upon family/social bubbles, age and social disposition. A whole host of mental health support sites and referral services are available, but it is unclear if these fully meet the need.

Most effective faculty practices of student engagement, active learning, simulations, compassion and close attention to student well-being have been practiced by experienced online learning faculty members for many years. However, higher education faculty members are not universally grounded in these approaches and practices. Yet, the faculty are now on the front line of monitoring student behaviors that on campus had been observed by resident advisers, campus health services and other professionals who in normal conditions pay attention to student well-being.

We found that most but not all of our students had ready access to at least smartphone broadband access to learning management systems. Nevertheless, expansion of wireless and cable access to meet everyone’s needs is required. Efforts in this area continue with 5G, 10G and the addition of Starlink and other satellite-based systems that are less vulnerable to the challenges that geography and rural population density present.

We know now that faculty and staff members are not immune from the impact of the pandemic. We are poised on a tidal wave of burnout. Faculty and staff have been working extra hours and extra days, nonstop, in preparing first for remote learning, then more robust online learning. As Colleen Flaherty writes in Inside Higher Ed, “Faculty Pandemic Stress Is Chronic Now“:

The early days of the pandemic took a toll on faculty members, but for many, peak stress is now, according to a new study of faculty mental health from Course Hero. Researchers for the study website surveyed hundreds of faculty members on and off the tenure track, across institution types, this fall. The findings suggest that faculty worries about the pandemic have morphed into chronic stress — with serious implications for professors’ mental health, their students and the profession as COVID-19 drags on.

So, we learned that there is a need for stress and mental health support for all in the education process: students, faculty and staff. We must be careful as we enter 2021 to assure that these needs are met.

We now have at least three different vaccines in the pipeline that promise to help protect against the current version of the COVID virus. Traditional treatments are improving with lowered death rates. New antibody treatments have been given emergency approvals for use. Yet the production, deployment and administration of these vaccines and treatments to billions of people worldwide will take a year or more. We still face a remote spring and likely summer ahead for higher education in the U.S.

Is your institution prepared to implement the practices and policies that we learned in this human disaster?

Will you implement training and support for the effective teaching practices we have learned? Will your institution address the brewing mental health issues? In the fall semester and beyond, how will our higher education model have changed? Will HyFlex, blended and online alternatives be offered for those faculty and students who may not feel safe to return to the classroom? Will your institution be prepared for the next natural/human disaster?

This article originally was published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.

Report Provides Guidance to Universities and Certification Bodies to Explore Certification-Degree Pathways

December 1, 2020 – A new framework to support the development and scaling of certification-degree pathways has been published today by Workcred – an affiliate of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – in partnership with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU), and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). This collaborative, nationwide initiative that culminated in the development of the framework was made possible by a grant from Lumina Foundation.

The framework supports the development and scaling of certification-degree pathways, accessible to and used by all students. Specifically, the framework identifies examples, opportunities, benefits, and challenges associated with integrating industry certifications into bachelor’s degrees. The framework can be used by certification bodies and universities to test different strategies and practices to better align certification and degree programs.

With the objective of improving student success and employability outcomes, and to inform the development of the framework, universities and certification bodies from across the U.S. participated in convenings to discuss opportunities and solutions to barriers of embedding certifications into bachelor’s degree programs. The series of convenings specifically explored opportunities in the growing fields of healthcare, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and the liberal arts.

“The goal of our effort is to unlock opportunities for students to earn multiple credentials that have value in the labor market,” said Workcred executive director Roy Swift. “The opportunity to collaborate across different parts of universities—both degree and professional and continuing education departments—and among accredited certification bodies gives us confidence that participants were able to learn from each other to optimize practices.”

Embedding or aligning certifications and bachelor’s degrees offers numerous benefits for students, certification bodies, universities, and employers. Certification-degree pathways provide students with a broad-based education and industry-specific skills that hiring managers seek in new hires. “The opportunities credential-degree pathways provide are incredibly important for all types of students and particularly relevant for adult learners as they may need to upskill or reskill into new roles. Having an industry-valued credential as well as a degree can increase job opportunities and lead to better pay for students,” Julie Uranis, UPCEA’s vice president of online and strategic initiatives.

“Credential-degree pathways provide opportunities for certification bodies, as these pathways can increase awareness and attainment of certifications as well as articulate how certifications relate to a variety of career and credential pathways,” emphasized Karen Elzey, Workcred associate executive director. “Further, colleges and universities can improve their responsiveness to the needs in their regions, recruiting new students by developing more opportunities to count certifications for academic credit towards a bachelor’s degree, and differentiating their programs from other higher education programs.”

“Building labor-market relevant credentials into degree programs can be an important strategy to reduce inequities and improve social and economic mobility,” said Shari Garmise, executive director of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities. “Those labor-market credentials improve labor market outcomes by certifying skill attainment which may help eliminate implicit bias in the hiring process, enable students to assume industry-related jobs during college, and, as part of the curriculum, would be covered by financial aid, allowing access and benefits to historically minoritized populations.”

Credentials provide employers with information on what an individual knows and is able to do. They can also detail the specific competencies a candidate possesses in addition to the broad-based education they have completed.

“Public research universities are committed to improving the workforce outcomes of their students and to addressing the workforce needs of local economies. This approach can ensure students that their credentials will have value to the labor market, and it can ensure employers that graduates have the skills required to perform in the workplace,” stressed Sheila Martin, vice president for economic development and community engagement at APLU.

Access the report, “Embedding Industry Certifications with Bachelor’s Degrees.” If after viewing the framework you have any feedback on the content of the report, examples of a certification-degree pathway, or ideas on how to shape future phases of this work, please let us know.

 

About Workcred

Formed in 2014, Workcred is an affiliate of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Its mission is to strengthen workforce quality by improving the credentialing system, ensuring its ongoing relevance, and preparing employers, workers, educators, and governments to use it effectively. Workcred’s vision is a labor market that relies on the relevance, quality, and value of workforce credentials for opportunities, growth, and development.

About APLU

APLU is a research, policy, and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening and advancing the work of public universities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. With a membership of 246 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and affiliated organizations, APLU’s agenda is built on the three pillars of increasing degree completion and academic success, advancing scientific research, and expanding engagement. Annually, member campuses enroll 5.0 million undergraduates and 1.3 million graduate students, award 1.3 million degrees, employ 1.3 million faculty and staff, and conduct $49.3 billion in university-based research.

About USU

The Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) is a president-led organization committed to enhancing urban university engagement to increase prosperity and opportunity in the nation’s cities and to tackling key urban challenges. The Coalition includes public urban research universities representing all U.S. geographic regions. The USU agenda focuses on creating a competitive workforce, building strong communities, and improving the health of a diverse population. The USU has partnered with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) to establish an Office of Urban Initiatives, housed at APLU, to jointly lead an urban agenda for the nation’s public universities.

About UPCEA

The University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) is the leading membership organization for professional, continuing, and online education. For more than 100 years, UPCEA has served the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America. UPCEA was founded in 1915 and offers its members innovative conferences and specialty seminars, research and benchmarking information, professional networking opportunities and timely publications. UPCEA advances leadership in professional, continuing, and online education by: enhancing quality and standards, furthering awareness, data collection, sharing scholarship and news, promoting excellence, and collaborating with partners. UPCEA has more than 400 member institutions, corporations, and affiliates. Based in Washington, D.C., UPCEA also builds greater awareness of the vital link between contemporary learners and public policy issues.

About Lumina Foundation

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. The foundation envisions a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s need for talent through a broad range of credentials. Lumina’s goal is to prepare people for informed citizenship and for success in a global economy.