Community Colleges are a Great Deal In Oklahoma
LEGISLATOR IS MILITANTLY MISGUIDED TO BROAD-BRUSH ALL OF OKLAHOMA HIGHER ED
By Craig Dawkins
Owasso State Representative David Derby-R, offered quite a rebuke of Oklahoma’s higher education leaders saying, “It’s obvious to anyone that pays attention that our colleges and universities waste far too much money on worthless classes, don’t require highly paid faculty to put in much effort, employ far too many non-teaching staff and operate at an efficiency level that would make any bureaucrat blush.”
The problem with what Derby proclaimed in his press release is that he paints with too broad a brush, as if every college is the same as the two research universities in the state of Oklahoma. What he misses in his screed against the two Big 12 Conference schools is that there are other colleges where faculty and staff have a completely different set of resources, work conditions, and mission.
For example, let’s consider community colleges. The central mission of community colleges is teaching. The students who attend community colleges have many different pathways. Some are headed to a four year college. Many need remediation in order to achieve that goal. Oklahoma community colleges exceed the national average in graduation rates. And like common education, there is pressure on trying to keep good faculty in place.
Community college is a good deal. Don’t ask administrators about this. Ask students who attend a community college. Tuition at community colleges is often one-third the rate of the research universities. And you’ll find some of our community college graduates finishing summa cum laude from colleges and universities in Oklahoma. And you won’t see any “fat cats” teaching at community colleges.
However, Derby’s perception of the “grandstanding and blustering” by highly paid higher education leaders needs to be addressed. He cites Ohio State University economics professor Richard Vedder, who serves as director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP). Vedder and his colleague Anthony Hennen studied Oklahoma’s higher education system and reported that Oklahoma’s non-faculty staff is more than 10 percent above the national average.
Last summer, I did some analysis of payrolls for January through April for colleges in Oklahoma and found that some colleges were much more transparent in how they allocate payroll than other colleges. In fact, some colleges could not be analyzed using the tools at my disposal given my time constraints. The problem is one of trust and a lack of transparency. Higher education leaders should work to bridge that credibility gap so that Republican elected officials can have more confidence and trust when higher education leaders come calling for more resources.
One of the recommendations made by Vetter and Hennen was that a more uniform reporting of personnel data across all colleges and universities in Oklahoma was needed. While this data is available on the state of Oklahoma data.ok.gov website, it’s not user friendly. It needs to be vastly improved. Some colleges use different categories that make understanding their data difficult. This must change.
It’s a fact that community colleges are getting squeezed very hard by the current financial shortfall facing the state. A small portion of state appropriations flow to the community college system, however, community colleges serve a huge number of students statewide. It’s fair to say that higher education leaders need to advance efficiency and transparency, but it’s a fantasy to act as if all colleges operate as if they were Big 12 Conference research institutions.
Key reforms need to happen in education and these things are happening in major ways. Higher education institutions in Oklahoma are a good deal. But community colleges are the best deal for those looking for quality teaching and the lowest tuition rates.
By Craig Dawkins
Owasso State Representative David Derby-R, offered quite a rebuke of Oklahoma’s higher education leaders saying, “It’s obvious to anyone that pays attention that our colleges and universities waste far too much money on worthless classes, don’t require highly paid faculty to put in much effort, employ far too many non-teaching staff and operate at an efficiency level that would make any bureaucrat blush.”
The problem with what Derby proclaimed in his press release is that he paints with too broad a brush, as if every college is the same as the two research universities in the state of Oklahoma. What he misses in his screed against the two Big 12 Conference schools is that there are other colleges where faculty and staff have a completely different set of resources, work conditions, and mission.
For example, let’s consider community colleges. The central mission of community colleges is teaching. The students who attend community colleges have many different pathways. Some are headed to a four year college. Many need remediation in order to achieve that goal. Oklahoma community colleges exceed the national average in graduation rates. And like common education, there is pressure on trying to keep good faculty in place.
Community college is a good deal. Don’t ask administrators about this. Ask students who attend a community college. Tuition at community colleges is often one-third the rate of the research universities. And you’ll find some of our community college graduates finishing summa cum laude from colleges and universities in Oklahoma. And you won’t see any “fat cats” teaching at community colleges.
However, Derby’s perception of the “grandstanding and blustering” by highly paid higher education leaders needs to be addressed. He cites Ohio State University economics professor Richard Vedder, who serves as director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP). Vedder and his colleague Anthony Hennen studied Oklahoma’s higher education system and reported that Oklahoma’s non-faculty staff is more than 10 percent above the national average.
Last summer, I did some analysis of payrolls for January through April for colleges in Oklahoma and found that some colleges were much more transparent in how they allocate payroll than other colleges. In fact, some colleges could not be analyzed using the tools at my disposal given my time constraints. The problem is one of trust and a lack of transparency. Higher education leaders should work to bridge that credibility gap so that Republican elected officials can have more confidence and trust when higher education leaders come calling for more resources.
One of the recommendations made by Vetter and Hennen was that a more uniform reporting of personnel data across all colleges and universities in Oklahoma was needed. While this data is available on the state of Oklahoma data.ok.gov website, it’s not user friendly. It needs to be vastly improved. Some colleges use different categories that make understanding their data difficult. This must change.
It’s a fact that community colleges are getting squeezed very hard by the current financial shortfall facing the state. A small portion of state appropriations flow to the community college system, however, community colleges serve a huge number of students statewide. It’s fair to say that higher education leaders need to advance efficiency and transparency, but it’s a fantasy to act as if all colleges operate as if they were Big 12 Conference research institutions.
Key reforms need to happen in education and these things are happening in major ways. Higher education institutions in Oklahoma are a good deal. But community colleges are the best deal for those looking for quality teaching and the lowest tuition rates.
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