changes to Excelsior College Examinations

A mail-out just received from Excelsior College announces the following changes to the Excelsior College Examinations:

"Productions/Operations Management" will no longer be offered after 30 September 2003.
"Reading Instruction in the Elementary School" will be replaced with "Literacy Instruction in the Elementary School" on 1 October 2003. It will still be 6 credits.
"Religions of the World" and "History of Nazi Germany" will no longer be offered after 30 September 2004.

In a few days, on 1 July 2003, Excelsior's fees are rising slightly (e.g., enrollment in a Bachelor's degree from $945 to $975; many 3-credit exams from $155 to $160).

 

California reading requirement

One of the requirements for the California "Multiple Subject" (i.e., elementary school) Teaching Credential is:

"Satisfy the Developing English Language Skills, including Reading requirement by completing a comprehensive reading instruction course that includes the following: the systematic study of phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding; literature, language, and comprehension; and diagnostic and early intervention techniques" -- http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentialinfo/leaflets/cl561c.html

Any knowledge or guesses on whether Excelsior's old "Reading Instruction in the Elementary School" and its new "Literacy Instruction in the Elementary School" will fulfill this requirement equally well?

 

Have you all noticed how many schools are raising tuition, and fees now. It seems like when the economy is at its worse the schools say well lets raise our tuition. What kind of logic is that? It happens every time the economy slows down. Anybody think that this makes since?

 

Re: Re: changes to Excelsior College Examinations

Actually it does, for state supported schools (which Excelsior is not), they receive a major portion of their funding from state appropriations. As budgets get cut, they have to raise tuition or cut programs.

For others, (private and for-profits) and often enrollment drops as the economy gets worse as potential students defer non essential spending, also many companies cut back on their reimbursement programs.

But faculty and staff still expect to get paid, and some even raises. The money has to come from somewhere, so tuition increases.

 

Well if I sell widgits, and my widgit sales are down then I raise my price will my widgit sales increase? Not in the real world. People start looking for someone else who sells widgits. If I have a warehouse full of widgits would I not be better off making less money on my product than driving more customers away?

Oh wait this is academia we are talking about.

I have not heard that enrollment is down, but I keep hearing about tuition increases. I just think it is a bad time to do that, but what do I know I have only been running a business for 10 years.

 

PLCScott wrote:

> Have you all noticed how many schools are raising tuition,
> and fees now. It seems like when the economy is at its worse
> the schools say well lets raise our tuition. What kind of logic is
> that?

Excelsior adjust their fees (I assume) every year, and this year they're raising them by about 2%, which was what prompted your musings.

What was general inflation over the past year? I don't know. But wait. Let me look it up on the Web. 2.1%. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

So, a 2% increase corresponding to a 2% increase. That tempts me to answer your question "What kind of logic is that?" with the word "Perfect". But I must be missing something.

> Oh wait this is academia we are talking about. [...]
> I just think it is a bad time to do that, but what do I know I
> have only been running a business for 10 years.

I spent too much of my life in academia, and I've never run a business, so I'm sure you know more than I do. Could you please explain why general inflation over the past year is not relevant?

 

Education in a bad economy

It's not necessarily true that enrollment goes down when the economy tanks. The opposite may be true: if you can't get a job, you might as well go back to school and "ride it out," especially if you can get funded for doing so. Also, as state tuition increases, the amount that a private institution can get away with charging might rise.

There are stats and info at:
http://nces.ed.gov//programs/coe/list/index.asp

Interestingly, part-time enrollment flattened out during the last decade, and full-time enrollment rose.

 

I am excited to learn that the elasticity of demand of college education is the same in the general business world. I must have been mistaken in my belief that a college degree is often refereed to an investment instead of a simple purchase of a disposable good.

I also wait anxiously to find out why Excelsior is making a bad business decision by having a small increase in their fees when state colleges and universities are having double-digit increases.

As always, consumers do not appreciate any real or perceived cost increase, but this increase is not a major event.

 

Well Mark,

I guess you could overwhelm me with the social science of macroeconomics, but I simply run a small business. Maybe I am the one who cannot see the big picture. My comments were not at Excelsior, but of all the colleges that seem to be raising their fees. I just think it is a bad time. What if all businesses start this trend? Bread, milk, gas, retail, automobiles, ah and steaks. If everybody has a price increase, and cuts back on production and employees where will we be. Back to the Jimmy Carter days. Everything cost too much, and nobody is working. My job may be in jeopardy, so lets not spend any money now honey.

I just think now is not the time to raise tuition at all universities. There may be some who actually need to do so, but I am thinking many could simply trim here and there, and take one for the country. I know if my kid was in his college years right now I would be sending him to Comm. College instead of the University.