Time to Scrap Electives?
Time to Scrap Electives? Four good reasons to finally focus on the real needs of the students Robin Capehart Feb 3 In contemporary higher education, the mandate for baccalaureate students to complete between 30 and 42 elective hours is increasingly seen as outdated. The inefficacy of such requirements in today’s career-focused educational landscape highlights the […]
Assuring Classroom Learning
Assuring Classroom Learning College instructors should not be “building a plane while flying it.” Robin Capehart Dec 9 Going from high school to college, we anticipate the course work to become more rigorous and our college instructors readily adept at making us learners and scholars. During both my undergraduate and graduate work, I was blessed […]
Meaningful Results over Process
Meaningful Results over Process It’s time for accreditation to tell us something worthwhile. Robin Capehart Dec 2 The accreditation process for colleges and universities is a critical component of ensuring educational quality and institutional accountability. However, there is a growing concern that national accreditors place excessive emphasis on process-oriented criteria rather than the actual educational […]
Time to Consider Charter Colleges
Time to Consider Charter Colleges Strengthening academic institutions while meeting state needs Robin Capehart Nov 11 Smaller colleges, both private and public, in the United States are facing significant challenges that threaten their viability, primarily driven by three challenges: financial problems associated with low enrollment, reliance on state and private funding, and the nature of […]
New Colleges, Old Values, Big Decisions
New Colleges, Old Values, Big Decisions Rapidly changing academic landscape impacts both established and new institutions Robin Capehart Oct 21 The Emergence of New Colleges The landscape of higher education is shifting. According to a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, American colleges and universities are closing at an unprecedented rate of about […]
Measuring Real Learning
Measuring Real Learning Student competency – not institutional convenience Robin Capehart Sep. 30 Seat time can’t determine competency No matter what topic you are teaching in a college class – be it accounting, history or algebra – everything you need to know can be taught and learned in three hours a week for fifteen weeks. […]
Dear Students: The World Will Change
Dear Students: The World will Change College students need a “continuous improvement” mentality Robin Capehart Sep 23 True Story A dedicated college professor assigned a challenging project to their students, hoping to foster critical thinking and research skills. As the due date approached, an ambitious student approached the professor to discuss their project idea and […]
Don’t Wait for the Roof to Fall In
The risk management study One of our first consulting assignments involved an institution that was facing growing financial problems. The institution approached a lender requesting a sizable sum of money to address a number of problems they had identified. The lender contacted our office seeking guidance. Understanding that there are times the operation of a […]
All Colleges Can Be Prominent
The current landscape of higher education in America is experiencing a critical shift. Since the 2013-2014 academic year, 726 or 15% of the 4,724 degree-granting colleges and universities have closed. (NCES, 2024) Currently, colleges are shutting down at an alarming frequency of approximately one per week (Fain, 2019). This trend is driven by a declining […]
A Guide to Assessing an Institution’s Financial Stability
The landscape of higher education is currently experiencing significant turbulence. A recent report detailed the following: • Factors such as declining high school graduate numbers, public skepticism about the value of a college degree, and tuition hikes have led to a decrease in enrollment. • The financial burden on colleges and universities has been exacerbated […]