The University of Oregon's physical education department responded to the state legislature's withdrawal of funds for facilities and student activity programs by imposing user fees, renting facilities to outside groups, and making physical education an elective while charging fees to enrollees. Courses organized to meet student demand proved…

Attempts to explain what satellite television can and cannot do, using the experience of the American Dietetic Association as an illustration. Clears up some common misconceptions about satellite TV and discusses the outlook for the future. (JOW)

Discusses problems inherent in funding rural vocational programs, i.e., federal needs assessments criteria and time/training involved in writing proposals for federal funds. Looks at problems unique to rural areas. Suggests new federal legislation should provide flexibility needed for the unique rural problems. (AH)

The concept of Adventure Playgrounds, adult-supervised spaces with raw materials which children can use to design their own play areas, is explained. California Adventure Playgrounds at Huntington Beach and Irvine are described. Costs, equipment requirements, and the need for community participation are discussed. (PP)

Program reviews for alumni administration are advocated. Cooperative planning; creating a formal study committee for sorting out ideas, getting preliminary direction, reviewing past programs, and discussing possible changes; program evaluation; and encouraging change are discussed. (MLW)

United Hospital in North Dakota, a primary teaching hospital associated with the University of North Dakota, has developed a program to provide on-site continuing medical education to outlying community hospitals and family medicine staff. The development, implementation and cost of the program are discussed. (JMD)

Participants in a nationwide summer program of minicourses for adults over 60, called Elderhostel, live on campus and choose from at least three one-week courses taught by regular faculty. There are no exams, credits or grades. The logistics of the program and financial costs and problems are discussed. (JMD)

Findings are reported from a survey of all U.S. medical school continuing education departments. The following attributes appeared to have a relationship to most programs: target group specialty; locale of presentation, cost per instructional day, method for identifying educational needs, and sponsor's rationale for program effectiveness. (LBH)

Reviews research showing that there is a level of quality below which children's development is compromised. Uses analogies of options available to consumers when buying cars to designate features of quality child care. Argues that high-quality care should be available to all children. (AMC)

Trends in family support spending and new programmatic initiatives during the 1990s are summarized. Nationally, total spending for family support exceeded $1 billion. Between 1990-2000, family support spending grew from 1.5% to 4% of total resources expended by state mental retardation agencies. Programmatic initiatives include trends toward…

A study compared two teaching hospitals' costs for educational programs with annual hospital operating expenses, with inflation, and by program. Unit costs were estimated for graduate and undergraduate medical students. Allocated education costs were 13 percent to 14 percent of operating budgets, in line with medical inflation trends. Cost per…

This commentary on Erb's (1995) article on institutionalization of individuals with severe impairments identifies several points of disagreement, including the appropriateness of placement of such individuals in large institutions, the financial cost of community supportive living, and whether individual needs can best be served in institutions or…

This commentary on Erb's (1995) article on institutionalization argues that living in one's home community is better than being forced to leave it to obtain needed services. The commentary also criticizes the assertion that supported living programs funded through Medicaid waiver are not cost-effective compared to traditional institutional or…

Robert Erb responds to commentaries to his paper on institutional placement for individuals with severe disabilities and the costs of community and institutional placements. Risk-and-benefit issues, in addition to cost-and-benefit ones, are addressed. (SW)

Describes how the DeVry Institute of Technology (Illinois), a for-profit educational institution, outperforms the federal government's plan in providing job training by offering quality technical education to working-class students. The author compares total degree costs, explains the school's curriculum and educational practices, and explores the…