Thursday, November 22, 2018
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Good article on the cost of education in America
Paula Bolyard has a good post on Why Does It Cost So Much to Educate a Child in America? She has a lot of numbers and helpful graphs. I especially liked this graph she used from the Cato Institute:
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Public school enrollment is plummeting in North Carolina because of school choice
It is nice to have more data on the condition of public schools.
Public school enrollment is plummeting in North Carolina because of school choice reports:
If you want to see how parents act when the government stops forcing an educational monopoly on them, look to North Carolina.
Nearly 20 percent of students are attending something other than a traditional public school, where attendance is falling “rapidly,” according to The News & Observer.
The rush toward charter, private and even home schools is largely due to the Republican takeover of the Legislature in 2010.
Lawmakers have since removed the 100-school cap on charter schools (it’s up to 185 as of this fall), created a $4,200 voucher for low-income families and two programs for special-needs kids to get out of public schools (where they are often treated poorly), and even made it easier for non-parent adults to teach homeschoolers.
Charter schools have grown by twice as many students as public schools have lost since the 2014-15 school year ....
As a monopoly Public Schools have little incentive to change. There are so many problems with public schools it is hard to know where to start. When parents are given options many of them will put their children in some other venue.
I predict even more parents will pull their children from public schools as they see how well things are going for their friends and neighbor's children.
Hat tip: Instapundit
Public school enrollment is plummeting in North Carolina because of school choice reports:
If you want to see how parents act when the government stops forcing an educational monopoly on them, look to North Carolina.
Nearly 20 percent of students are attending something other than a traditional public school, where attendance is falling “rapidly,” according to The News & Observer.
The rush toward charter, private and even home schools is largely due to the Republican takeover of the Legislature in 2010.
Lawmakers have since removed the 100-school cap on charter schools (it’s up to 185 as of this fall), created a $4,200 voucher for low-income families and two programs for special-needs kids to get out of public schools (where they are often treated poorly), and even made it easier for non-parent adults to teach homeschoolers.
Charter schools have grown by twice as many students as public schools have lost since the 2014-15 school year ....
As a monopoly Public Schools have little incentive to change. There are so many problems with public schools it is hard to know where to start. When parents are given options many of them will put their children in some other venue.
I predict even more parents will pull their children from public schools as they see how well things are going for their friends and neighbor's children.
Hat tip: Instapundit
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Maybe online college education is starting to take off
A College Prices Its Online Programs 60% Less shares what may be the beginning of the end for college education:
Berklee College of Music’s online program, priced at just over a third of tuition for the Massachusetts institution’s face-to-face degree offerings, raised eyebrows when it got off the ground in 2013. Conventional wisdom that online programs require more resources to produce had taken hold, and pricing models that favor online students were few and far between.
Five years later, Berklee remains an anomaly in higher ed, as most institutions continue to charge the same or more for online programs as for their face-to-face equivalents. Some arguments hinge on a philosophical belief that online education should be valued equivalently to face-to-face programs, while others emphasize the significant financial burden of designing and launching online courses from scratch.
In the face of a shifting landscape, Berklee has held firm. Online tuition for a bachelor's degree will go up half a percentage point this fall, from $1,479 per course ($59,160 for a 40-course degree program) to $1,497 per course ($59,880 total), but it still remains more than 60 percent less than face-to-face tuition -- $171,520. In the last few years, on-ground tuition has increased by a few thousand dollars while online tuition has stayed the same, widening the gap between the two even farther, according to Debbie Cavalier, Berklee’s senior vice president of online learning and continuing education.
As of fall 2017, Berklee Online's undergraduate enrollment stood at 1,138 students, up from 244 just two academic years earlier. Though Cavalier’s team had worried early on that the online program would cannibalize existing offerings, campus enrollment has instead increased from 4,490 undergraduates in 2013 to 4,532 in 2017, even as online has grown more popular.
For decades the cost of higher education has climbed twice as fast as inflation. This can't continue.
Online education is a via option which may replace brick and mortar colleges.
Hat tip: TaxProf Blog
Berklee College of Music’s online program, priced at just over a third of tuition for the Massachusetts institution’s face-to-face degree offerings, raised eyebrows when it got off the ground in 2013. Conventional wisdom that online programs require more resources to produce had taken hold, and pricing models that favor online students were few and far between.
Five years later, Berklee remains an anomaly in higher ed, as most institutions continue to charge the same or more for online programs as for their face-to-face equivalents. Some arguments hinge on a philosophical belief that online education should be valued equivalently to face-to-face programs, while others emphasize the significant financial burden of designing and launching online courses from scratch.
In the face of a shifting landscape, Berklee has held firm. Online tuition for a bachelor's degree will go up half a percentage point this fall, from $1,479 per course ($59,160 for a 40-course degree program) to $1,497 per course ($59,880 total), but it still remains more than 60 percent less than face-to-face tuition -- $171,520. In the last few years, on-ground tuition has increased by a few thousand dollars while online tuition has stayed the same, widening the gap between the two even farther, according to Debbie Cavalier, Berklee’s senior vice president of online learning and continuing education.
As of fall 2017, Berklee Online's undergraduate enrollment stood at 1,138 students, up from 244 just two academic years earlier. Though Cavalier’s team had worried early on that the online program would cannibalize existing offerings, campus enrollment has instead increased from 4,490 undergraduates in 2013 to 4,532 in 2017, even as online has grown more popular.
For decades the cost of higher education has climbed twice as fast as inflation. This can't continue.
Online education is a via option which may replace brick and mortar colleges.
Hat tip: TaxProf Blog
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Looks like California AB 2756 was defeated
Homeschool Lessons in Civics: How To Kill a Bill reports:
Nearly 1,000 people spoke in opposition. They were homeschool children, mothers and fathers from all corners of state, including Fresno. All they were allowed to say was their name, affiliation and view on the bill. Some kids told the committee they “suppose” the bill, meaning they opposed it.
I like the last line in this article Homeschool Supporters Crush Plans for Greater Oversight:
In the end, the bill died. None of the committee members even called for a vote.
There is no problem with homeschooling in California. As Committee member Kevin Kiley the Turpin case was an outlier. It is bad policy to create new laws to address a one time event.
I'm glad the bill was soundly defeated.
Nearly 1,000 people spoke in opposition. They were homeschool children, mothers and fathers from all corners of state, including Fresno. All they were allowed to say was their name, affiliation and view on the bill. Some kids told the committee they “suppose” the bill, meaning they opposed it.
I like the last line in this article Homeschool Supporters Crush Plans for Greater Oversight:
In the end, the bill died. None of the committee members even called for a vote.
There is no problem with homeschooling in California. As Committee member Kevin Kiley the Turpin case was an outlier. It is bad policy to create new laws to address a one time event.
I'm glad the bill was soundly defeated.
Monday, April 23, 2018
Californian homeschoolers - please call your representatives
In response to horrific situation of the 13 Turpin children some California legislators are looking at tightening the laws governing homeschooling in California. This is just one event in a decade. Hundreds of thousands of homeschoolers should not be treated as potential criminals.
Please call your representatives and members of the California State Assembly Committee on Education and tell them AB 2926 and AB 2756 are both bad ideas.
And then ask your family and friends to all call.
For more information:
You can read the current text of AB-2756 and AB-2926.
Here is a link to the HSLDA on the issue.
Links from Google.
Please call your representatives and members of the California State Assembly Committee on Education and tell them AB 2926 and AB 2756 are both bad ideas.
And then ask your family and friends to all call.
For more information:
You can read the current text of AB-2756 and AB-2926.
Here is a link to the HSLDA on the issue.
Links from Google.
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