Free college has been gaining traction as a public policy option in recent years and has been adopted in some form by at least 15 states. Enthusiasm for the idea has gained momentum with the growing realization that a healthy economy requires a well-educated workforce and that workers benefit immensely from education beyond high school. Indeed,…

This is the executive summary for the report, "The Dollars and Sense of Free College." Policymakers have debated the specifics of free-college programs--including whether free-college eligibility should extend to students at four-year public colleges as well as community colleges, and whether it should be universal or targeted to…

Community colleges have a long history of developing and delivering training that is responsive to the needs of regional employers, both large and small, and providing students with affordable pathways to postsecondary credentials of value. Building high-quality apprenticeship programs requires expertise in both areas. This brief presents an…

Internationally educated professionals (IEPs) encounter significant barriers to entry to their professions upon immigrating. Obtaining education in the new country is an effective means of improving their positions. While universities emphasize the need to attract and serve adult learners and a more diverse clientele, the specific needs of…

This article presents Edelson and Reiser's (2006) strategies as a framework for analyzing an instance of authentic practice in a managerial accounting course. Specifically, this article presents an analysis of a managerial accounting project design created to provide learning-by-doing via authentic practice. Students need more than to learn about…

University earth science departments seeking to establish meaningful geoscience outreach programs often pursue large-scale, grant-funded programs. Although this type of outreach is highly successful, it is also extremely costly, and grant funding can be difficult to secure. Here, we present the Geoscience Education Outreach Program (GEOP), a…

This article discusses the story behind American University's brand campaign. Colleagues and peers are asking how American University developed a brand strategy--"KNOW/WONK" campaign that launched in fall 2010--that's original, authentic, and representative of AU's distinctive personality. What they really want to know is how AU got it through the…

In response to mounting concerns about the cost of college, lawmakers have proposed major new partnerships between the federal government and states to tackle college affordability. The Education Trust maintains that any new federal-state proposal aimed at making college more affordable must also simultaneously address completion problems by…

Conventional wisdom says that the way to win more awards is to get researchers writing more proposals. Yet many incentives designed to stimulate proposal development can be hard on the bottom line, especially those that pay researchers for their time or to attend grant-writing workshops presented by outside consulting firms. This paper presents…

This Go8 Backgrounder explores the possible uses of compacts in government financing of university activities, examines their potential costs and benefits, and outlines principles for their design and implementation. The Government has committed to compacts as an element of its future funding arrangements with public universities but has not yet…