CERPP Conference 2016-Affording College: Costs, Debt, and the Way Forward
January 13-15, 2016 (Newport Beach, CA)
Over 150 participants from around the country joined together in Newport Beach, CA to discuss the question of the year: Is college worth it? With political candidates debating debt-free education, student loan debt skyrocketing, and sticker prices exceeding the annual income of many families, it was a time for a true examination of college costs, student aid, and sustainable solutions. The event brought together college presidents, higher education economists, and student aid experts to breakdown the realities of college cost and how to make it affordable for all.
Three Key Themes of Affording College: Costs, Debt, and the Way Forward by Donald Hossler
Senior Scholar Don Hossler Breaks Down Three Key Themes of Affording College: Costs, Debt, and the Way Forward, CERPP’s Conference 2016
In the 9th annual conference sponsored by the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice, we examined the intersection of societal concerns, public policy debates, and institutional anxieties about college costs. We focused on how institutions are dealing with more accountability, rising internal costs, less willingness to pay on the part of students, and the implications of a growing use of loan debt to pay for college costs.
There is no doubt that Great Recession exacerbated concerns about college costs. In addition, increases in underemployment and unemployment, stagnating or declining income, and historic high levels of tuition at all higher education sectors have resulted in increasing doubts about whether or not a college is affordable, whether it is worth it, and how students will repay growing levels of loan debt. Declines in state support for public institutions and a growing realization amongst non-medallion private institutions that they were losing prospective students because of costs – despite high discount rates, have resulted in greater internal scrutiny of institutional expenditure patterns.
With this introduction, there were 3 major themes for colleges and universities, but also for public policy makers, students, and parents. Read More Here
2016 Conference
Finance expert tells colleges: Take a fine-toothed comb to your budgets. Mikhail Zinshteyn, The Hechinger Report (01/14/16)
Wage trends, drops in subsidies raise university, college leaders’ concerns about affordability. Emily Gersema, USC News (01/15/16)
Might some colleges manage themselves into extinction? Mikhail Zinshteyn, The Hechinger Report (01/15/16)
Please click on each day for the conference blog, which provides a summary of each session. All available presentations are linked to as PDFs.
Day 1: Conference Blog
- Is College Worth it? Cost, Value, and Workforce Projections
- Martin Van Der Werf, Associate Director, Editorial & Postsecondary Policy, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University
- A Critical Look at the Business Model of Higher Education
- Richard Staisloff, Principal, rpkGROUP
- Presidential Panel: The Presidential View of Cost, Price, and Value
- Catharine Bond Hill, President and Professor of Economics, Vassar College
- Barry Glassner, President, Lewis & Clark College
- The Evolution of Student Aid, Where it Has Been, Where it is Heading; Implications for Students and Families
- Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, Associate Vice Chancellor, Enrollment Management, University of California, Los Angeles
- Georgette DeVeres, Associate Vice President & Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Claremont McKenna College
- Shirley Ort, Associate Provost & Director, Scholarships and Student Aid, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- The Current Landscape of Student Financial Aid and How Families Pay for College
- Sandy Baum, Senior Fellow, The Urban Institute
- Understanding Federal and State Government Funding of Postsecondary Institutions
- Nicholas Hillman, Assistant Professor, Education Leadership & Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Creating the Out-of-State University: State Funding and Enrollment Management at Public Research Universities
- Ozan Jaquette, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies & Practice, University of Arizona
- The Politics of Student Aid and College Costs
- Barmak Nassirian, Director of Federal Relations and Policy Analysis, American Association of State College and Universities (AASCU)
- Is the Higher Education Funding Model Sustainable?
- Kent J. Chabotar, Professor of Political Science; Former President, Guilford College
- Neil Theobald, President, Temple University
- Debt as Revenue: Context from One Institution
- Matthew Ward,Vice President, Enrollment Management and Marketing
- Are We Too Reliant on Student Loans?
- Robert Shireman, Senior Fellow, Century Foundation
- Experts Respond: Reverse Press Conference with Senior Education Writers
- Scott Jaschik, Editor, Inside Higher Ed
- Reinventing your business model (Johnson, Christensen, & Kagermann, 2008)
- How to review your business model: Some best practices (Staisloff, 2013)
- Form and Formula: How the Federal Government Distributes Aid to Students (White-Lewis & Valle, 2015)
- Pell Grant: Building Block of Student-Based Aid (Valle, 2015)
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge our sponsors whose generosity made our conference possible:
| College Board | ACT | Texas IB Schools |
| Hobsons | International Baccalaureate | USC Rossier School of Educ |
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