There’s an article over at the Washington Post on an interesting project that could reduce the cost of higher education considerably:
President Obama is proposing to make community college tuition-free for qualified students nationwide. But what if anyone could take the first year of college free online?
A New York philanthropist announced a $1 million donation Wednesday that aims to make that possible through an online venture overseen by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
Steven B. Klinsky’s idea is for students to take foundational courses through the online venture edX that would prepare them for College Board examinations in various subjects. Those who pass enough Advanced Placement or College-Level Examination Program tests conceivably would be able to enter college as sophomores. That would cut the price of a bachelor’s degree by a quarter.
That’s closely related to something I’ve proposed here from time to time. The main difference is that I proposed a cooperative venture on the part of several states which would use funds presently being used to support non-performing brick and mortar colleges.
Nick Anderson, the author of the article, editorializes a bit:
Klinsky’s vision — “freshman year for free†— echoes in spirit what Obama proposed last week. The president wants Congress to approve $60 billion over the next decade for a partnership with states that would eliminate community college tuition for “responsible students†who get adequate grades and make academic progress.
I think the vision being offered is significantly different from President Obama’s proposal in a number of ways. The most obvious, of course, is that it’s a private initiative and wouldn’t crowd out or compete with other federal government spending priorities. Another way is that Mr. Klinsky is proposing something that is free while President Obama is proposing something that is “free”, i.e. it would not increase the student’s spending or indebtedness but it would increase the federal governmenet and state governments’ spending on higher education.
Still, I’m glad to see creative approaches being offered to the problem of the expense of higher education whether it’s being offered by a private individual or the president. Lord, send us a cure! The disease is already here.
Here in GA, high school students can already do this by taking AP courses and passing the exam. Is this not being done yet in other states?
CStanley, my impression is that they are talking about on-line courses taken after graduating from high school. It would help students who cannot take that many AP courses in high school, don’t want their GP average to suffer, or students who cannot be enrolled because they were on the wrong track. Also, sounds like more courses. I attended our first high school orientation, and while the course catalog is confusing, it doesn’t seem like one practically could get enough AP credits to skip a year of college. And I think the college-bound tend to be selective on how many AP classes they will take.
I have no basis for commenting on how high schools handle AP courses presently but in the mists of the distant past when I was in high school only the top two tracks took AP courses.
For example, I was in the honors track and I took the following AP courses: English, Russian, chemistry, math, and physics. I took the AP tests in all of those plus history and got credit for all of them. In effect, I entered college as a junior.
My understanding of what’s being proposed is to extend the possibility of offering advanced placement to all comers.
Also, colleges vary on treatment of AP classes. Some don’t give actual credit hours towards graduation, but instead allow the student to advance to the next level of the subject. Some don’t give credit absent the highest grade or have their own tests. Some have stopped participating (Dartmouth). Colleges have to be brought on board.
That was my experience but it was actually more complicated. I got credit for some and placement for others.
I can tell you with 100% certainty we have that, CS, and variants occurring.
1) AP: Naperville north, south; Nequa Valley ; Matea Valley; Benet Academy. If you want to root around their websites and see if it’s what you envision. The issue is the same as comparing any two high schools: “your AP class is my standard class.”
2). Many are opting to take the “101” preliminary, big lecture hall type courses at cheap community colleges and transferring, with credit, for soph to senior year at another school. I know U of I will accept this, I’m thinking U of C not so much. (Think Georgia vs Emory in your neck of the woods.)
I have not heard of what Dave is suggesting, with formalized cooperative funding of JC.
A few observations from last night’s high school open house:
1. Record-setting attendance. It appears that private school kids continue to take increased interest in public schools since the Great Recession; whether they enroll is yet to be seen.
2. Three math dept. AP courses: Calculus I; Calculus II; and Statistics. Impossible to take all three. Three science dept. AP courses: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Probably impossible to take all three.
3. Foreign language does not appear to be AP, but the four-year programs in each are geared towards obtaining college waivers, so I’m not sure what the difference might be.
4. D. is interested in French (sigh) — teacher emphasizes foreign language learning aps, which I wonder would have helped me tremendously as I stumbled through German.
5. Lots of honor track classes give students a choice to continue honor class senior year or switch to AP. I find this odd.
6. Concerted effort to warn parents/students from English honors track due to amount of outside reading and high drop-out rate early on. Wonder if parents press for the top track here, but accept math assignment given.
7. Lot of AP classes in arts, e.g. A.P. Studio Art, A.P. Art History . . . School has a good reputation in these programs, but this wasn’t really what I had in mind for college. It was virtually impossible for me to take art classes at my university — I tried to take Art History.
Three math dept. AP courses: Calculus I; Calculus II; and Statistics. Impossible to take all three.
I suppose they don’t offer the AP courses over the summer.
D. is interested in French (sigh)
Why the (sigh)?
I think an free or inexpensive online core classes are definitely needed. Last year, my youngest son had an online Chemistry class, due to space limitations in the lecture hall, but it still cost the same.
Also, remember that not all high school AP classes are the same across the country.
Ellipsis, I think I must be a Francophobe. I guess I sat there not digging the French vibe, and not liking foreign languages and thinking French isn’t particularly useful, but heck none of them really are.
Hadn’t thought about summer school, but the information I’ve gathered from parents w/ older kids is that they don’t seem to value maximizing AP courses. They seem to think the kids need a mix of difficult and less difficult courses, either so the kids don’t burn out or their grades don’t suffer.
My high school, one of the largest in downstate at the time, did not have any AP courses. The principal apparently felt that the school shouldn’t spend the resources for a narrow band of college-bound students, to the detriment of the broader student body, including an excellent vocational program. Those were different times.
Spanish is damned useful in Florida! And given the neighborhood I live in I wish I spoke Haitian Creole, too!
By the time I entered high school I had had five years of French in grade school. It wasn’t a choice. Everybody took French in my grade school.
In high school I was ready for something tougher so I chose Russian. Four years in high school, four years in college. I’ve kept up, more or less.
In high school we were also required to study Latin and the track I was in also took Greek. In college I took a couple of years of Chinese.
Oddly, I agree with your assessment of languages. I think that for most Americans they aren’t that useful other than Spanish, of course. What a lot of people don’t realize is that when most companies want a Russian, Chinese, etc. speaker they’ll go for a native speaker.
“1. Record-setting attendance. It appears that private school kids continue to take increased interest in public schools since the Great Recession; whether they enroll is yet to be seen.”
You bet, PD. You know there is a lot more going on out there than the headline “news” when you hear stuff like this numerous times. “We’ve got two left to go and we are thinking about moving (moving!!) to put Jane and John through [comparable public] school and not [comparable private] school. For some this means breaking the school chain of multiple generations.
I hope we get to see this experiment. I don’t think it will work well. All of the kids bright enough and motivated enough to do well at these introductory courses will have tested out of them or will mostly be going to schools where money won’t be so much of an issue for them. Be glad to proved wrong.
Steve
I think you are correct, steve. But we still have a huge education cost issue.