Should there be a national student database?
As reported in Inside Higher Ed, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given funds to an effort to stimulate the potential development of linked databases that might someday allow us to track individual students through their education pathway even if they move from state to state. Currently, this is not only impossible but has been resisted when suggestions were made that the federal government might do this.
Objections to a federal role in such a database aside, there is an ongoing need for transparency in higher education. About a week ago, I helped to facilitate discussions by university presidents attending the national conference of the American Council on Education. Stephen Joel Tractenberg, President Emeritus of George Washington University, led the discussions that were intended to yield ideas for inclusion in a letter to President Obama from higher education leaders. The small group of presidents that I met with agreed that the most important thing that must be done is for colleges and universities to become more transparent and use publicly shared data and information to make good decisions. That same spirit is behind Transparency by Design.
One challenge we have faced with Transparency by Design is the inability to track adult students who move from one state to another. Knowing what happened to these students as they moved could be helpful to us in developing better ways to support them, in understanding whether they were able to transfer credits and continue their education, whether they ever finished their goal of getting a college degree, and more. So, I applaud the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for pressing this effort and hope that we end up with a national database. I think that colleges and universities should support this effort as one step toward greater transparency.
What do you think? Please post your comments and ideas.
Mike
Share This2 Responses to “Should there be a national student database?”
Mike Offerman Says:
Steve, I can and will respond to your general comments and encourage you to respond to our inquiries about your particular situation. The desire to have better data and data systems is not a for-profit institution or marketing issue, it is a matter of getting at some of the things you are asking about. In order to better understand the experiences of students, there is a need to have better systems to track what happens to students as they move from institution to institution and from state to state as well as what happens to them after they complete a program. The intent is to allow better understanding and to inform and improve institutional and public policy decisions. Most institutions, including Capella, conduct surveys with alumni but these are subject to limitations. What is referenced in my blog is a more robust system of allowing the tracking of students as they move through and after they leave higher education. Certainly, one area of interest would be to understand the financial results for the student or graduate.
Mike
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Steve Vodhanel Says:
When you say supporting students as they move, determining if credits were transferred, and finding out (understanding) if they ever finished a degree program, this sounds like an emphasis of knowledge from a marketing perspective so you can sell them something. And, yes, from that perspective I can see how valuable this could be for the for-profit universities and since all higher education is driven with a business plan of some sorts, the public colleges and universities would ‘profit’ as well. However, these services are not what I need since once I obtain my PhD what MORE is there to sell me?
Mr. Offerman, do you have a database that keeps track of student success and student failure after obtaining a Capella degree? By student failure, I mean students who cannot find a job in their chosen degree career path and have moved into another career. Students whose credit ratings have plummeted due to outstanding student debt, or simply by moving into forbearance until a degree is completed. The effects of bad credit and gainful employment there afterwards. Information on the effects of a heavy student loan debt and lifestyle changes, such as divorce, home foreclosure, or ill health. Or, employment prospects once credit has been ruined after student financial debt has occurred since many employers, including community colleges, will not hire people with a poor credit rating.
A database to gather this type of information, I just bet, is something you don’t have, but should if you mean your salt about being transparent. While you’re going to hear the success stories of Capella students, if you don’t have a database for this information how will you hear the horror stories of those of us who realize that ‘student financial aid’ is another moniker for a life-time of heavy financial debt? Or how are you going to hear about the stories of those of us, who after ten years of applying to community colleges have simply given up on the idea of a CC career of any sorts and we can attest that a shortage of leadership in the community colleges is nothing more than a myth? This information you should capture and be interested in, because as of right now you could not PAY ME $50,000 to get a PhD in higher education leadership through Capella University and how would you understand any of my reasons and thoughts for this?
If you are interested in helping me, this is what I need:
1. An attorney to talk to regarding surviving financial bankruptcy due to student loan debts.
2. A credit counselor to guide me to returning my credit rating from the very bottom, to where it always was most of my life- above 720. (I went from 720 to 580 simply by moving one student loan into forbearance.)
3. An interview coach so I can perhaps learn the better ways to explain poor credit due to student loans, if I should hit the lottery and get another interview!
Do you really need to know things like whether or not I’ve moved, or what credits were transferred and accepted across institutions? Or whether or not my wages have been garnished and I’ve lost my modest home all due to misinformation regarding community college leadership and a its ‘critical shortage’ that brought me into this expensive PhD program?
Thanks Steve….
P.S. There are two things I frequently do, apply to a California community college and play the state lottery. And I’m glad I do….I won $11 last week! And once again, if you find ANY state in this nation where a shortage of community college leadership personal exists, please tell me who they are, where they are…and how I may apply.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:41 am