Students at Fort Hays State University, in Kansas, will receive $5 for every credit hour in which they earn a C or higher, as long as they are in-state students taking classes on the campus, not online. But not all students know about the program, according to The University Leader, the student newspaper.
The money comes from the multibillion-dollar economic-stimulus package that the federal government enacted last winter. The state's Board of Regents decided that colleges in Kansas would spend two-thirds of their share of the stimulus on deferred maintenance and the remaining third on tuition mitigation. The money students earn will be deducted from next semester's bills for continuing students, while checks will be sent to those who don't enroll next term.
Fort Hays State wanted to use the money to help all students. Five dollars a credit hour will go a long way toward this year's $6.85-a-credit-hour increase in tuition, said Edward H. Hammond, the university's president. The university also wanted to "reward good behavior," he said.
Comments
1. 22228715 - December 11, 2009 at 09:02 am
Oh good grief. As if there wasn't already ridiculous and inappropriate confusion about whether or not universities are big mommies and daddies for child-students?
2. jffoster - December 11, 2009 at 09:45 am
Carrying "retention" to new depths. Sounds like a DDD
dS (Dumbed-down Ding-dong School) run by doofuses.
Or is that 'doofi'?
Aha, it's 'doofera'.
3. rhallworth - December 11, 2009 at 10:27 am
But only if they've taken out the garbage without being asked, right?
4. 11333651 - December 11, 2009 at 02:19 pm
To the first three comment authors: Thanks for your reactionary, superficial responses.
Wouldn't it be interesting if we learned that rewarding students for good grades - modest as it is - actually stimulated students to increase their effort in class? Humans often respond positively to rewards. The proposed action seems like it might be an interesting experiment.
5. jffoster - December 11, 2009 at 05:26 pm
#4, this is college we're talking about -- not ckindergarten. Or is there no significant difference to you?
6. arrive2_net - December 12, 2009 at 01:08 am
Sometimes those little rewards can have an bigger impact than you might expect because it gets a buzz going among students ... who will then talk among themselves about how they are going to spend that $60, and then go to great lengths to make absolutely sure they get that money. However, I think Ft. Hays State is setting its sites a little low by rewarding a "C". It might be interesting to follow what happens ... except ... for a "C"? You have to wonder how many "Ds" and "Fs" there really are. I doubt that program will last, since it sounds like a prime target for a budget ax.
7. amnirov - December 13, 2009 at 06:35 am
Of course that plan sort of implies that the faculty there trust one another to hand out "real" grades.
8. menoetius - December 13, 2009 at 08:25 am
This is in principle no more than a bursary or merit scholarship, albeit a very small one.
Why is it a good idea? For the same reason that automatic merit based scholarships are always a good idea, they fight grade inflation.
Awarding too many high grades starts to cost money and the school starts demanding explanations of inflated grades.
In school's I've been at where there were automatic scholarships for students who maintain certain averages (not enterance scholarships, but ones that go to anyone with a certain GPA) there has been much less grade inflation.
It reverses the pressure that administrator put on faculty, especially adjunct faculty, to keep students and their parents happy by giving high grades.
$5 is not much, but I will bet there will soon be a policy of giving more Ds.
9. jffoster - December 13, 2009 at 10:23 am
I suggest, 8, that this tied to "retention" is. And given that the sights are set low (part of the reason I think it's tied to retention), there'll be more pressure to hand out Cs.
Maybe the best way to save money is for that "university" to close.
10. superdude - December 16, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I have no objection to the theory of providing incentives. Indeed that's how much of the world operates. We give raises at work based on performance with the expectation that the raises not only reward past performance but provide incentives for future performance.
What I do have a problem with is the remarkably low standard this "university" is using. Money for a C? No institution should ever be in the business of providing incentives to produce average or mediocre work.
Further, the system should operate in the other direction. There should be $5/credit surcharge on every D and F. C's and B's should be cost/benefit neutral.