Links for 11/10/09

Carter A. Daniel

Fifty years ago … the simultaneous publication of two reports, by the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, on the state of business education in America... considered half a century later, can be more accurately described as something close to a catastrophe…

instead of boldly fighting back against their misguided detractors, the nation's business schools uniformly cowered and began scurrying to conform to the wishes of the reports' authors.
Business education could, and should, have adopted the model of other professional schools…

instead of constantly striving to achieve that delicate, razor's-edge balance between theory and practice, business schools, frightened by the reports, retreated almost entirely into the theoretical camp. Doing so damaged several important, distinct characteristics of business schools…

Since experienced businesspeople seldom have any reason to earn a Ph.D., and Ph.D. candidates seldom have any time or inclination to work in business, the rise of the doctorate requirement has served to separate theory and practice instead of unify them, and has severely limited the perspectives that are brought to bear on the subject…

The foundation reports should not have said what they said, and business schools should not have responded as they did…

SLA

With the House SAFRA legislation calling for the elimination of FFELP and for all schools to shift over to Direct Lending (Senate has not released a companion bill), the time is right to require an annual reporting requirement which includes financial statements and detailed repayment data (for example, can anyone answer the basic question of what percentage of federal loans are delinquent?), beyond the flawed cohort default rate. An annual report seems like a perfect opportunity to build some accountability into a student aid reform bill while ensuring that the taxpayer is receiving transparent information commensurate with their $550 billion investment to date.

Kevin Carey

of the nation’s highest paid college presidents, a list topped by Shirley Ann Jackson, who was paid $1,598,247 to lead Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last year… The article is accompanied by an text box listing Jackson’s “Key Accomplishments at Rensselaer.”…

One can learn a great deal about American higher by considering what is on this list, and what is not. Specifically, there is no mention of how well students at RPI were taught, how much they learned, whether they graduated, and what became of them after they left…

Instead, Jackson’s accomplishments are measured purely in dollars raised, buildings constructed, and faculty hired…

Ben Miller

One of the biggest problems with the existing federal student loan system is that it relies upon the same entities, known as guaranty agencies, to both prevent default and handle collection. Making matters worse, subsidies for these activities are skewed heavily toward collection, so there is less incentive to help borrowers stay in repayment.