Major Updates

Conference Committee Nixes Short-Term Job Training Pell Grants from Final Compromise Computer Chip Bill
After months of internal negotiations between a conference committee working out differences between the House and Senate passed legislation focusing on competitiveness with China, a much narrower compromise bill has come forth. Smaller than the House of Representatives’ original bill, the compromise legislation removed entirely a short-term job training Pell grant program, which had provisions restricting any fully online programs, or proprietary institutions from receiving eligibility for those dollars. UPCEA advocated for the inclusion of a short-term job training Pell grant program, but only if it was inclusive of fully online programs. Read more.

 

US Department of Education Releases Regulations for Public Comment On Multiple Items
The public is invited to comment on the proposed regulations from the Department. We encourage you to flag for your institution’s government affairs team to review the regulations, as well as take any personal action you desire as a concerned citizen (but not representing your school unless you have the proper authority to do so). The proposed regulations will be finalized in the fall, with an implementation date no later than July 1, 2023.

The list of regulations includes:

  • Student Loan Relief Programs Including PSLF, Borrower Defense to Repayment, School Closures (Comments Due August 12)
    New proposed regulations for items such as student loan discharge programs, alleviating student loan debt burdens for borrowers whose schools closed or lied to them, who are permanently disabled, and for public service workers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. In addition, the proposed regulations include Borrower Defense to Repayment tweaks, related to how students would be able to recoup dollars based on fraud or misrepresentations by institutions. The changes include providing an additional basis for a borrower defense claim based on aggressive and deceptive recruitment practices.

    Read more and make a comment.
    Department of Education Fact Sheet.

 


    • Distance Education Enrollments from Branch Campuses are Counted as Main Campus Enrollments
      • Codifies that all branch campus distance education enrollments are counted as part of the main campus. This may already be how your institution operates, but we have heard that this could be problematic for some institutional reporting, administrative burden, and enrollment counts. Part of the comments the Department is seeking is about what period of time would be reasonable for full implementation of this requirement as proposed. 
    • Second Chance Pell Grant for Incarcerated Individuals  
      • The proposed regulation would treat a Federal, State, or local penitentiary, prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, juvenile justice facility or other similar correctional institution as an “additional location” for purposes of § 600.2, even if a student receives instruction primarily through distance education or correspondence courses at that location. 
      • Institutions would obtain approval from their accrediting agencies and from the Secretary only for the first eligible prison education program at each of the first two additional locations, and then would simply report subsequent program offerings to the Secretary.
      • Qualifying prison education programs would not need to lead to licensure or certification, but if they do, the programs would need to be designed to meet those requirements in the state where the correctional facility is located (or where most individuals will reside after release, for a federal prison). The programs also need to lead to occupations without state or federal prohibitions on the licensure or employment of formerly incarcerated individuals.  
    • 90/10 Rule Changes
      • Codifies regulations agreed upon during negotiated rulemaking, requiring all federally funded for-profit colleges to get at least 10 percent of their institutional revenue from non-federal sources.  
    • Changes in Ownership/Nonprofit Eligibility 
      • A new proposed change may cause an institution to go from nonprofit to for-profit status. One of the proposed changes includes for those institutions who have revenue sharing agreements, when the compensation is inconsistent with the market value for the services provided they would be considered a for-profit institution. 


 Read more and make a comment.
Department of Education Fact Sheet.

 

  • Third Party Servicer Data Collection (Comments Due August 29)
    “The Department of Education (the Department) is seeking an revision of the OMB approval of a Third Party Servicer Data Form. This form collects information from third party servicers. This form is used to validate the information reported to the Department by higher education institutions about the third party servicers that administer one or more aspects of the administration of the Title IV, HEA programs on an institution’s behalf. This form also collects additional information required for effective oversight of these entities.” (US Department of Education) Read more and make a comment.

 

Other News

One size doesn’t fit all — Differences among Boomer learners, retirees, and the mature adult learner

BOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC (July 29, 2022) – Driven by Baby Boomer retirements and the Great Resignation, a new wave of mature learners is looking at options in continuing education – but not necessarily to learn new job skills, according to a just released study by UPCEA and MindEdge Learning.

The results of “Boomers, Retirees, and the Mature Adult Learner” show that the rapidly growing cohort of mature adult learners is hardly monolithic. These age 50+ learners have diverse reasons for wanting to continue their education, varying goals for the future, and different preferences for what and how they want to learn.

“Mature learners are a complex and complicated group,” said Jim Fong, Chief Research Officer at the UPCEA Center for Research and Strategy. “Institutions that want to attract mature adult learners will have to tailor their programming and procedures to meet the needs and preferences of these learners.”                             

Key findings of the national online survey include:

  • In general, respondents are more interested in non-career skills (such as personal enrichment and life skills), than career skills (such as job upskilling and career reskilling).
  • The top reason for mature adult learners to continue their education is personal growth and enrichment (23%), closely followed by keeping the mind active (21%) and increasing knowledge (17%). Learning new job or career skills ranks fourth on the list, at 16%.
  • A majority (54%) of respondents agree that cost is the most important factor influencing their decisions about continuing education.
  • A plurality of mature learners is interested in taking courses online, rather than in-person. Nearly a third (32%) of respondents say they are extremely interested in a fully online format, compared to 11% for in-person learning and 10% for a hybrid learning format.
  • Among different credentials and course offerings, respondents have the greatest interest in short courses or modules (84% interested or extremely interested), followed by a single-day seminar (78%), and professional certifications (58%).

“Taken together, these findings suggest that mature adult learners are in the market for short, flexible, and low-cost offerings that are engaging and useful,” said Bruce Etter, Director of Research & Consulting at the UPCEA Center for Research and Strategy. “But these overall findings mask some significant differences between different segments of the mature-learner cohort.”

To illustrate these differences, the researchers divided the sample of respondents into four distinct “personas,” each characterized by different motives, goals, and content preferences:

  • Madeline represents learners age 50 to 55. She is employed full-time and wants to continue her education so she can learn new skills that will help her advance in her career. She values traditional modes of higher education and is interested in earning professional certifications or credentials.
  • Joshua represents learners age 56 to 60. He is currently unemployed, but not ready for retirement; he wants to continue his education for his own personal enjoyment. He is not very interested in advancing his career or earning credentials.
  • Norman represents learners age 61 to 65. He is recently retired and wants to continue his education for personal growth and enjoyment. He is curious, but is not interested in traditional modes of higher education, and does not want to spend a lot of money to learn new skills.
  • Lisa represents learners over the age of 65. She has been retired for 10 years and is not looking to learn new skills; she is satisfied with her life and is not strongly motivated to seek out higher education. She does not want to pay for educational programs.

Interest in continuing education is strongest among the youngest group of mature learners, and it declines progressively among each of the three older subgroups. By contrast, older mature learners are significantly more interested in courses and programs that are geared toward personal enrichment, while learners in the younger groups are relatively more interested in skills training.

“This research provides essential guidance for educational institutions that want to serve the mature adult learner,” said Frank Connolly, Director of Communications and Research for MindEdge Learning. “This group of learners defies stereotyping, and it is vital that the continuing-education community understand the variety and the complexity of their educational needs and preferences.”

Read the full study here.

Interested in learning more? Mark your calendar for a webinar with UPCEA and MindEdge researchers, including detailed discussion about the results of the study and how they can be leveraged.
Register for the Boomers, Retirees, and the Mature Adult Learner webinar
Tuesday, September 13, 2-3 PM ET

                                                                                                

Methodology

UPCEA and MindEdge partnered to identify the preferences and motivations in continuing education among boomers, retirees, and mature adult learners. The results of this study focus on their content delivery preferences, motivations, and unique qualities to help institutions of higher education further refine their portfolio of offerings and marketing strategies. An internet panel was used for the study and targeted individuals 50 years or older that were at least somewhat interested in continuing their education. In total, 997 individuals participated in the study, of which 546 completed the entire survey. The survey took place February 23 and February 24, 2022. The research was underwritten by MindEdge, an industry leader in online education and training.

 

About UPCEA

UPCEA is the leading association for professional, continuing, and online education. For more than 100 years, UPCEA has served most of the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America. Founded in 1915, the association serves its members with innovative conferences and specialty seminars, research and benchmarking information, professional networking opportunities and timely publications. Based in Washington, D.C., UPCEA also builds greater awareness of the vital link between contemporary learners and public policy issues.

 

About MindEdge Learning

MindEdge’s mission is to improve the way the world learns. Since its founding in 1988 by Harvard and MIT educators, the company has served some 4 million learners. With a focus on digital-first learning resources—from academic courseware to professional development courses—MindEdge’s approach to best practices in online education focuses on learners’ needs across the spectrum of higher education, professional development, skills training, and continuing education. MindEdge is based in Waltham, Mass.

 

Contact

For MindEdge:
Frank Connolly, Director of Communications and Research
[email protected]

 

For UPCEA:
Molly Nelson, UPCEA Vice President of Communications
[email protected]

Read Ray Schroeder’s perspective on the metaverse and augmented reality. 

We are embarking on an online environment transformation that is every bit as revolutionary as the inception of the Web browser in 1992.  The Metaverse will supplant the browser for many of our activities.  We will immerse ourselves through avatars to engage in commerce, education, and social exchanges.  Now is the time to prepare for the transition.

We are on the verge of a massive reconfiguration of the way in which we digitally communicate, engage with one another, and do commerce.  Emerging at the same time are the Metaverse, the 3D, avatar-centric, virtual reality platform, and the decentralised Web 3.0 platform, built on blockchain, supporting 3D displays, and artificial intelligence.  Working together, the Metaverse and Web 3.0 will combine to support most online communication and commerce in just a few years. While parts of these entities will stand independently, the two platforms will overlap and combine most powerfully to revolutionise the way in which we all use the Internet and host the combination of our physical and digital lives.  Perhaps “phygital” best describes the new environment that is emerging, combining the terms “physical” and “digital”: “Today’s consumer is Phygital: they make consumer choices and purchases both digitally and in the physical world.” 1 Read the full article.

The National Student Clearinghouse continues to report sobering statistics on higher education enrollments[i].  Their Spring 2022 report shows that undergraduate enrollment fell by 662,698, as compared to the prior year.  In addition, spring graduate enrollments were relatively flat, but still falling by 22,337.  With the predicted demographic cliff looming nearby, a decade of tuition increases and a recent pandemic stifling the economy and the personal finances of the nation, this comes as no surprise.  In fact, since the beginning of the pandemic, the National Student Clearinghouse reports a total decline of 1.4 million students.

 

Early during the pandemic, women made up 59.5% of college enrollments, with 40.5% being men according to the National Student Clearinghouse.  During this time, higher education enrollments were significantly impacted by the pandemic and were off by 1.5 million compared to the previous year[ii].  UPCEA research suggested that the value of education vastly differed by gender and age and as a result, young men were also more likely to cease or pause their college experience (and reconsider their debt burdens) in favor of higher paying retail jobs.  However, in the most recent National Student Clearinghouse data, compared to the previous year, 462,000 less women enrolled in the spring of 2022, most likely as a result of less remote working opportunities, the need to care for family and financial burdens. 

As a result, we are also seeing the highest numbers of Americans with some college and no degree.  Prior the pandemic, this number was 36 million.  In spring of 2022, that number stands at 39 million[iii].  Consumers have abandoned college, mostly for financial reasons, but just underneath the surface, there lies a value equation that has now become out of balance.  With tuition rates at all-time high level, consumers of higher education have rethought their decisions.  This, coupled with the financial pressures of the pandemic, has caused a higher-than-expected exodus.  UPCEA and StraighterLine research also shows that the reasons why they leave and the reasons why they might continue their education at a later date are very different[iv].

So, how can higher education survive and potentially thrive in a new economy?  Doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of “insanity.”  Colleges and universities are going to need to change and innovate.  It is unlikely that they can thrive, let alone survive, by doing the same thing but in a slightly different way.  Some considerations on what to do and what not to do could include:

  • Offering the same degree-based product at the same price point hoping and expecting the enrollments to return to normal levels. It is likely that the approaching demographic cliff and increased competition on the horizon will eliminate a recovery back to normal times.

  • Depending on online enrollments to offset losses to traditional enrollments as its sole survival strategy. While this seems to be an obvious solution to many institutions and potentially new and cutting edge for some, it isn’t.  Fully online degrees have become a commodity in higher education and an expectation of future learners.

  • Re-engineering the degree to be more modular and stackable. While the degree is the bedrock of higher education and our systems are steeped in this tradition and do not easily allow for a full re-design, there may be profitability in compromise via stackable and nondegree credentials.  Degrees and stackable credentials can co-exist.  Stackable credentials, while some argue may cannibalize future enrollments, have a greater potential to create more affordable and valuable on-ramps to degrees.  Of course, some stackable credentials will become terminal credentials for some and thus cannibalize.  However, the new enrollment potential created by greater affordability and added value to the part-time learner seeking upward job mobility or stability is immense.  In addition to students that would enter into college part-time and have no credits, 39 million are in the category of having some credits but are not enrolled in college.  A soon-to-be-released UPCEA and StraighterLine report shows that this learner has an average of 28 credits from a prior experience.  These value seeking students will seek modular or stackable pathways to turn their existing credits into credentials such as certificates, while others will use it towards a degree.

  • Create more affordability for the degree by recognizing previously acquired learning, as opposed to forcing students to retake courses. The standards have been set that typically 120 credits equate to a bachelor’s degree and 30 or 36 credits often equates to a master’s degree.  Credits have traditionally been used as the “currency” of higher education.  However, similar to currency exchanges in many airports, higher education needs to create more venues for conversions and exchanges based on prior learning.  The only hurdles to doing so are our own systems, creating evaluative processes to convert noncredit learning, the role of accreditors and an arrogance that noncredit learning can be converted into fractional credits.  All of these hurdles can be overcome or addressed.  Ultimately, noncredit conversion to credit will evolve and will be a competitive advantage for those institutions who early adopt or innovate around a process that welcomes the noncredit experience.

  • Create noncredit programs to feed into degree or stackable credit pathways. As conditions for fully online and campus-based degrees become more competitive (coupled with a shrinking market due to demographics) we need to establish better entry points and create more early relationships.  Noncredit programs that offer badges or certificates can serve that purpose for both degree-completers (such as alumni) and those without any degree.  Today’s student is savvier and often has to find creative ways to fund their education.  They also have access to more information and resources in their choice of education, especially for a degree.  The savvy student will seek to transfer credit if they have it, but also to negotiate prior learning or noncredit experiences into credit.  A recent UPCEA snap poll showed that just four-in-ten institutions have prior learning assessment processes in place.  This too will be a future battleground for institutions as they seek to acquire the student of the future.  Those who are able to develop efficient processes that can do this in scale will gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

 

Higher education in the future will change.  Our economy has changed, and the learner has changed.  The learner has more choices, but less money and thus values higher education differently.  As a result, consumer power has shifted more to the future learner and colleges and universities need to acknowledge this and build around them.  It is time to rethink the degree, build around it, build within it and build to pathways to it and off it. 

 

 

[i] Current Term Enrollment Estimates, National Student Clearinghouse, May 26, 2022

[ii] Belkin, D., “A Generation of American men Give Up on College:  I Just Feel Lost,” The Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2021

[iii] Sedmak, T., “More Than 39 million Americans Have Some College, No Credential, According to New Research,” National Student Clearinghouse, May 10, 2022.

[iv] Fong, J. and Smith, A., “Today’s Disengaged Learner is Tomorrow’s Adult Learner,” Website: https://partners.straighterline.com/news/disengaged-learners-research, December 2021.

UPCEA is excited to share the new strategic direction for the association’s five Regions. The Regions are an integral component of UPCEA’s access mission, and are key to both UPCEA’s legacy and future success. Over UPCEA’s 107 year history, the Regions have undergone changes like geographic boundaries, to the more recent Regional conference pilot events (like the SUPER Regional conferences, combining content and attendees from two adjacent regions) stemming from the recommendations of the 2017 Presidential Task Force on the Future of Regions. In concert with UPCEA’s Board of Directors, the 2021-2022 Regional Cabinet Task Force has worked for nearly a year to craft the next step in the evolution of the Regions. 

While the geographic variety of Regional conferences and low price point have always made these events accessible, the pivots in 2020 and 2021 which made Regional conferences both virtual and free to members revealed the true level of access these events could engender. Enabled by the virtual modality, these conferences experienced a 200-300% increase in attendance over the most highly attended prior on-site events. As we move forward, retaining this opportunity of access to help our members network and share best practices to serve today’s learners is paramount. 

The recommendations of the 2021-2022 Regional Cabinet Task Force, endorsed by the 2021-2022 UPCEA Board of Directors, outline an exciting next model for UPCEA’s Regional events starting in 2023:

  • Each Region will have the opportunity to host half-day Peer Learning Circles (PLCs) or “Salons” twice per year. These events will be completely virtual, and gratis for all UPCEA members. 
  • Intentional yet informal and unrecorded, these conversation-based gatherings will be designed around a theme or topic of greatest interest to both the host Region and our field, including time for presentation, reflection, and collaboration. 
  • These events will feature high-quality content and professional development, and the more intimate scale will provide opportunities for networking as well as peer-mentoring. 

Detailed information about event agendas and topics will be available soon. We are excited about the great opportunity for access that this shift affords, and I hope you’ll join us online!

 

Amy Heitzman, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D., is UPCEA’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Learning Officer.

Google is making headway with a less expensive and self-paced option to earn digital certifications amid a decline in college enrollment.

Google advertises the certification programs as a low-cost option to an expensive and time-consuming four-year higher education pathway. According to the tech giant, a certificate can be earned in three to six months applying less than 10 hours per week.

The company also offers its grads access to partner employers to help jumpstart their tech careers.

“The real game changer, to my mind, is Google’s partner program with employers,” according to Ray Schroeder, senior fellow at the University Professional and Continuing Education Association. Read the full article.

Higher education is suffering from the failure of a couple of essential linkages, resulting in mega-declines in enrollments—down three million over the past decade.

I think of higher education as a long chain of processes, services and functionalities that are broadly designed to improve society as a whole. These include such links in the chain as teaching and facilitating the learning for the workforce, assessing and ensuring skills and knowledge, enabling continuing professional development for advancing careers, and assisting with the maturing of teenagers into responsible and engaged citizens.

There are many more links in the long chain, but none more important to the success of the overall endeavor than ones linking to bringing students into college and the link of preparing them for careers in the workforce. These two links at the opposite ends of the long higher end chain are critical to the system as we know it, yet they are failing.

The key links are broken, leaving higher education as a system of declining relevance and effectiveness. In the case of the first link, enrollments continued to fall by more than half a million this spring below last spring. The decade-long decline cannot be due solely to the pandemic or the economy. It is a pattern that is certain to accelerate further as the “demographic cliff” hits in 2025, followed by another dip coming a decade later due to the impact of the pandemic on birth rates. With fewer students in the prospective pool, there will be even fewer students enrolled.

A two-year study by the ECMC Group showed that the number of high schoolers planning to attend college dropped from 71 percent in 2020 to 51 percent this year. Meanwhile, according to a separate study, fewer students went back to college this year, which was a key factor in dropping undergraduate enrollment 3.1 percent from last year.

At the other end of the chain of the higher ed system, there is a growing number of employers who have dropped their requirement of a college degree for new employees. Susan Caminiti cites compelling examples in the article “No college degree? No problem. More companies are eliminating requirements to attract the workers they need”:

The tech industry has been plagued by chronic talent shortages for years. Some estimates show that there are now more than 450,000 open cybersecurity jobs alone … A growing number of companies, including many in tech, are dropping the requirement for a bachelor’s degree for many middle-skill and even higher-skill roles, according to a recent study from Harvard Business Review and Emsi Burning Glass, a leading labor market data company … Even the U.S. government is rethinking its approach. In January 2021, the White House announced limits on the use of educational requirements when hiring for IT positions. Looking predominately at college degrees “excludes capable candidates and undermines labor market efficiencies,” the executive order states.

Meanwhile, the state of Maryland has dropped the degree requirement in hiring for nearly half of its job positions. Over all, the trend is gaining traction. Emsi Burning Glass researchers analyzed millions of online job listings, looking for four-year college degree requirements and trends. In 2017, 51 percent required the degree; by 2021 it was only 44 percent.

A myriad of reasons can be cited for this trend away from college. Near the top is the high cost of college, resulting in long-term debt for many attendees. Federal and state regulators are seeking ways to best find relief for students already in debt and those prospective students who seem certain to acquire a significant debt if they enter college. These efforts are complicated by a host of other issues such as relevance of current curricula and the other failing link—that is, the link to serving the needs of employers and society as a whole.

An alternative credential movement has made progress in serving students with shorter, targeted sequences of learning modules that end in a certificate or other credential affirming the knowledge and skills of the learner to prospective employers. This seems to meet the needs of students who are asking for shorter experiences they can cash in on quality entry-level jobs or advances in positions at their current work. Colleges have stacked some of these programs together so that, over time, they can lead to a degree while they provide higher wages and more opportunity with each of the component credentials. Yet some colleges have been reluctant to embrace this trend while competition mounts with offerings from large corporations and industry associations.

While a glimmer of hope is seen in the rise of alternative credentials among both students and employers, the short-term situation will become worse for universities in the fall. As the windfall of governmental pandemic funding runs out and inflation takes hold, the balance sheets of the more vulnerable colleges and universities will take a big hit. Coupled with less revenue expected from fewer enrollments, higher costs and lower subsidies, this will be an especially tough academic year.

In the longer term, it is clear that a world of wild change awaits us. If we are to remain fiscally stable, we have little time to fix the broken links on both ends of the university chain of services. Yet much can be accomplished if we are prepared to cooperate within the institution and collaborate outside the institution.

Regarding the final link of placing learners into meaningful, up-to-date, in-demand careers, we need to reinforce our relationship with employers. Given our growing online delivery to distant students, these employers are not merely those in our city, state or region. Those relationships have more to do with content and competencies than geography. To the extent that we can make those employers part of our curricular decision process—including not just course content, but also course packaging in terms of badges, certificates and certifications—we will extend our placement pipeline.

Those steps that include forward-thinking business and industry leaders will go a long way toward enticing more students to enter or return to colleges. However, to fully repair our enrollment linkages, we must engage prospective students, parents and adult learners. They must become a part of our pricing and packaging of learning. Even outstanding curricula, if they remain overpriced and overly long, will be doomed to further drops in enrollment and, ultimately, fiscal viability.

Are you carrying these urgent messages to your colleagues? Given the budgetary challenges we are about to see emerge this fall, we must act wisely. And we must act now.

 

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