Four strategies for meeting performance-based funding demands in higher education

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities recently released its monthly brief and provided the Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2012.

Issue number five is the shift by many states toward performance-based funding (PBF).  For several years, this topic entered accreditation and political conversations, but only recently did PBF rise to importance in so many states and become linked so closely with future institutional funding.  With encouragement from major players in American higher education, including the Lumina Foundation, the National Governors Association (NGA), and the U.S. Department of Education, PBF is being discussed or mandated as a way to encourage a funding model that is focused on completion rather than on entering enrollment.  As cited in numerous studies (many funded or supported by Lumina), American colleges must increase degree completion in order to remain competitive in tomorrow’s global market.  As you have read in past blogs, I fully support our need to increase degree completion and provide some strategies institutions can consider to help advance their performance and completion efforts.

1. Know what majors your entering students are interested in and measure how many remain enrolled and graduate. This measurement should examine how many students who migrate away from their initial majors still complete their educations. For example, if you have 100 students interested in psychology and only 10 graduated from the institution, where did the other 90 go? I have no expectation that all 100 would persist or remain enrolled as a psychology major, but data like this shows patterns where intervention is likely needed.
2. Measure second-to-third and third-to-fourth year persistence rates by subpopulaton.  As my colleague Tim Culver recently discussed, persistence is no longer viewed primarily as a first-to-second year issue. Second-year persistence is critical as well, and it is also a good idea to track your third-to-fourth year persistence. Bowens, Chingos, and McPherson (2009) in Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities provide strong data examples of where we are losing students (particularly males).
3. Understand patterns of student behavior at your campus. The August 2011 National Clearinghouse Report states that more than a million students transfer from one public institution to another. Some may have good reason to transfer, but a million? That is a very large shift, and campuses need to understand where their students are going and why. Consider surveying transfer students to learn why they are leaving, and then use that information to keep your students (For example, Noel-Levitz offers a Withdrawing Student Survey in its Research Toolkit instruments).
4. Understand gaps in student preparedness at your campus. The 2011 ACT Readiness Report notes that only one in four students has had the necessary college preparation in every subject area. One in four! Few institutions are reviewing testing sub-scores to understand where students have performance gaps.  These gaps (often in math and/or science) are frequently fixable, but we need to identify who these students are and provide the proper extended or advanced levels of engagement and support services to meet their needs. That means assessing your students systematically and early, before they develop problems and decide to withdraw. (That’s also the subject of a forthcoming Noel-Levitz Webinar.)

While some may be concerned that PBF is going to lead to grade inflation and decreased learning outcomes in order to “meet” the standards, I hope this pushes the academy to understand its data, determine where the individual institutional gaps are, and seek ways to creatively provide the structures and supports needed for students to succeed and complete.

I am always happy to hear from you and discuss strategies for data tracking, enrollment planning, and student persistence. Feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts and questions.