It’s been a busy one. Here’s a (small, incomplete) peek inside the life of a tenure-track mama prof.

(1) Traveled on work trips to Seattle, San Diego, Boulder, Laguna Beach, Washington (twice), and Chicago—and most of that was just June.

(2) Spent two weeks at Northwestern University, 10-plus hours per day, learning the technical in’s and out’s of cluster randomized trials at a veritable “geek camp.” Had a blast. Imported generous family members to babysit during the day and parented my 7-month-old daughter every evening, awaking three to five times every night to nurse.

(3) Wrote and submitted three paper proposals to the American Educational Research Association.

(4) Completed final edits on two articles forthcoming this fall.

(5) Watched as my 3-year-old son wore a suit and went down the aisle as ring-bearer in his nanny’s wedding. Cried my eyes out.

(6) Wrote a proposal for nearly $700,000…

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As discussions about the future of for-profit colleges intensify, my email inbox has begun to fill with inquiries. Why haven’t I weighed in? What do I think—is Congress on the right track? What does my recent conspicuous silence portend?

While I’m flattered (and a little confused) by a seeming desire to hear my opinion, the truth is I haven’t been ready to provide one. Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about the for-profits and the tough questions their growing presence in higher education raise. I’ve struggled with an intellectual exercise of sorts, attempting to set aside the financial interests associated with the sector and simply consider whether common objections to the industry would exist even if its colleges were not-for-profit.  It’s not easy to sleep at night when wrestling with complex demons like that.

I’ve come to the conclusion that yes,…

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There’s a bit of an uproar in California over an arrangement between the for-profit Kaplan University and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office that makes it possible for students locked out of community college courses to enroll in a Kaplan course at a reduced rate. The arrangement stems from the overcrowding and under-resourcing of the California community college system, which is nothing less than under siege. Of course, it also stems from a completely sensible desire of Kaplan to expand its reach and enrollment. The California State Legislature, by failing to adequately support its community colleges, created that opportunity. Kaplan is doing exactly what we’d expect any educator to do—responding to student demand. We denigrate that action only because it will also result in profits. Let’s at least be honest about that.

To me the really distasteful part of the…

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Dear readers, I am running from job to kids, kids to job—and thankfully my lovely husband has had a few minutes to guest blog on my behalf. So, please meet Liam Goldrick, co-founder of The Education Optimists and policy director of the New Teacher Center.

“College for ‘Some’”

by Liam Goldrick

Richard Vedder and my wife, Sara Goldrick-Rab, squared off yesterday on Patt Morrison’s radio program on Southern California Public Radio yesterday. They addressed the question, “Who needs college?”

Vedder, the founder of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C., recently announced a joint proposal suggesting that some kids shouldn’t go to college at all (as recently described in this New York Times article). As Sherman Dorn notes, making such distinctions is tricky and generally involves suggestions that “the type of people who don’t benefit from college” are “other…

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The recent decision by the American Educational Research Association to hold a news conference condemning Arizona’s new immigration law was somewhat unpredictable, and according to at least a few observers, unwise. For example, Rick Hess told The Chronicle it wasn’t “smart politics” to “baldly politicize the role of research.” The Chronicle’s editors fanned the flames further by titling its article “Education-research group puts itself on the border of advocacy.”

Oh, the horror—research and advocacy meeting, having coffee, perhaps even deciding to date. The children that could result are feared by Ph.D.’s everywhere, particularly those evil twins: Compromised Objectivity and Biased Conclusions.

Of course academia trains us to think, like Hess, that research is worthy only when fully divorced from politics. Our research questions should be derived from theory, stemming only from the…

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My e-mail in box is full of stories sent by friends and colleagues who share my interests in higher education and public policy. I open dozens of links each day, and once in awhile I’ll pause, laugh, or stop and think. Rarely, however, do I find myself suddenly overcome with nausea.

Of course, there’s a first time for everything. Business Week reports: “The boom in for-profit education, driven by a political consensus that all Americans need more than a high school diploma, has intensified efforts to recruit the homeless.” No, I’m not kidding. The article goes on: “Chancellor University in Cleveland … explicitly focused recruiting efforts on local shelters after it realized that Phoenix, owned by Apollo Group was doing so.”

What world are we living in? So-called educators are hitting the homeless shelters in search of financial aid-eligible students to enroll in college? And they…

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These days I’m wearing more than a few hats. I’m an untenured assistant professor, a consultant, a blogger, a daughter, a mama, a sister, a wife, a granddaughter, a friend, a boss … and also a human being’s food supply. Yes, five to six times a day I generate enough milk to satisfy the appetite and growth requirements of a nearly 15-pound 4-month-old baby girl. For the record, she consumes about 13-15 percent of her weight in milk every day.

Annie was born in January. I resumed work when she was just two weeks old. I resumed full-time work (e.g., at least 40 hours a week) when she was a month old. I began flying with her when she was four weeks, and started traveling one or two nights away from her on trips when she reached three months. Yes, that’s right—I didn’t have a maternity leave. Sure, I was offered one: 12 weeks unpaid. I just wasn’t in a financial position to do it. …

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The College Board’s Advocacy and Policy Center reports that “too many students are borrowing more than they are likely able to manage” and this is particularly true for black undergraduates. According to researchers, fully 27 percent of black BA recipients borrow more than $30,000 for college, compared to 16 percent of white BA recipients. The gap is especially large among independent students (those who are a bit older, are parents, or independent for other reasons)—more than one in three black independent students who earn BA’s graduate with high levels of debt, compared to less than one in four white independents.

This is a trend we need to know more about. There have been a few articles written about race differences in college-financing patterns and receptivity to financial aid, but none have been especially adept at sorting out the underlying reasons for variation by race/ethnicity…

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It was really hard to watch the American Graduation Initiative get cut from SAFRA. It was one of the most promising initiatives for higher education in decades, representing a real shift from a culture of focus on college access to one focused on student success. I was crushed to see it go unfunded.

Of course, I’m feeling a little better since Jill Biden called for a White House summit on community colleges, to be held this fall. An Obama conference is a decent consolation prize. It’s actually a coup, when you think about how seriously community colleges have been taken by policy makers in the past (read: not at all).

Washington needs to make the most of this opportunity. Doing this requires pushing far beyond a pleasant conversation about “best practices and successful models.” Because let’s be honest—there aren’t very many “best practices” we can feel confident in scaling up right…

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Are students attending for-profit institutions getting their money’s worth, especially compared to attending community college? I’ve tackled this question before. Now, another study commissioned by a for-profit college has appeared, claiming to fill gaps in our knowledge.

Since I only have a PowerPoint presentation of the findings to review, and my opinion is pretty well-expressed in other media coverage, I’ll just hit a few notes I’ve not yet seen mentioned elsewhere.

1.  The authors want to claim that the for-profit sector is outpacing the capacity of community colleges to expand their enrollment.  To back this up, the study compares recent enrollment growth in the two sectors.  But they fail to mention the very different levels of overall enrollment: Community colleges enrolled approximately 1.2 million more students in 2009 than were enrolled in 2007. In comparison, there were 1.4…

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As a child growing up inside the Washington Beltway, I learned early never to have much faith in politicians. Every few years new folks came to the city, promising “change” and leaving without having done much at all. The candidates and officials I did like never got the attention and promotions they deserved. And worst of all, those who claimed to be on my side were everlasting disappointments (read: Bill Clinton).

Somehow that cynical base inside me melted a little with the election of Barack Obama, and became a tiny puddle when he announced the American Graduation Initiative. Finally, a president who “got” it! As educators we were all working to prepare children for a full life, and that had to include a real shot at higher education. That meant finally giving sufficient resources to the colleges where the majority of those looking longingly at the American Dream were going to end up:…

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Ah, the joys of being a state employee—our salary info is readily available to the public!  Despite the University of Wisconsin system’s efforts to keep that information quiet (salaries are very low, making it easy for other universities to lure us away), the Wisconsin State Journal put it online to ensure transparency.  Here are some interesting tidbits:

–9 of the 10 best-paid employees in the University of Wisconsin system are men.

–5 of the top 12 best-paid employees in the system are in athletic departments. Director Barry Alvarez earns $500,000 a year—$85,000 more than Kevin Reilly (system president) and $63,000 more than Biddy Martin (chancellor of the Madison campus). An assistant football coach earns five times more than yours truly.

–The deans of Madison’s law and business schools outearn the deans of letters and science and education by approximately 25 percent.

–The chair …

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It’s all about the bankers — again. As I’ve said in this blog numerous times, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act is poised to dispense critical aid to low-income college students and the colleges they attend — if the lending industry doesn’t kill it first.

The savings that would result from a move to direct lending are substantial. Money would go directly to the neediest college students and to community colleges, a sector that is swamped and struggling in this recession. This investment in human capital is in so many ways a no-brainer — it’ll generate a large return, benefit folks in nearly every community in the country, and support the American dream.

Of course, the bankers will have none of it. In the current system they draw profits on the backs of students, lending them money and selling those loans to the government. They are so eager to hold onto those profits…

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As a mother of two, including a seven-week-old infant, I think about child care constantly. Who provides the best care? How much does it cost? What’s the travel time involved? Can I find an arrangement that accomodates my desire to nurse? These difficult questions are keeping me up at night, as I struggle to find a situation that works for my infant, my toddler, my husband, and (last and possibly least) me and my career.

But I’m also aware that my situation is quite good, especially when compared with others on our college campuses. The number of unmarried parenting students is rising, doubling over the last 20 years from seven to just over 13 percent of the undergraduate population. More than one-third of black female undergraduates nationwide are unmarried parents, and so are 21 percent of all Native American undergrads.

More than half (59 percent) of these folks are really struggling …

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In a recent post on Education Week’s blog, Debra Viadero offers a caution about President Obama’s support for community colleges. Pointing to her recent article on community college research that indicated how much more we need to know about how best to improve completion rates in that sector, she questions whether the president would be wiser to place his bets on career colleges. She says that a recent study by the Educational Policy Institute (EPI) and an ongoing program of research by James Rosenbaum and colleagues support her contention that community colleges ought to take cues from career colleges.

In my opinion, this talented reporter is jumping to conclusions.

Yes, the graduation rates at two-year for-profit colleges exceed those at two-year public colleges. No one disputes that. That does not necessarily mean, however, that career colleges are outperforming community college…

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The end of last year was a busy time for me as I waited out the birth of my daughter, who decided to spend an extra 10 days lounging in utero before emerging into the Wisconsin winter. I was so focused on strategies to promote her exit (sidenote: Talk about an area in need of better research — given gobs of data on live births for hundreds of years, docs still refuse to hazard a prediction of labor occurring on any given night!), I virtually shut out the world of higher education policy. Imagine!

Thankfully, others were hard at work around and over the holidays, thinking about ways to make sure that the substantial, timely, and hard-won investment which will (fingers crossed) soon come to higher education via the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) are most effective. Evidence of that work is contained in a December Lumina Foundation memorandum to the U.S. Department of …

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Dear readers,

Throughout the fall I blogged infrequently on the challenges of being a pregnant parenting professor. Today I’m writing again, this time to acknowledge how truly lovely life can be, and just how lucky I am.

Last Saturday my family welcomed my daughter into the world. Annie is already a strong-willed young woman, and I look forward to the challenge of both integrating her into our hectic life, and to learning how we can fit into hers. 

I hope to rejoin you with some new commentary on higher education by month’s end. Til then — happy new year, and all the best to you and your family.

Sara

When the history of American higher education in the 21st century is written, I suspect the end of the first decade will be known for two resounding themes: the growing importance of community colleges, and a move from college access to a focus on college success. The vocabulary of this important time centers on words like efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness. These are terms that, thanks in no small part to the work of foundations like Lumina and Gates, finally have traction among both administrators and consumers of higher ed. In a very real sense, this is nothing less than astounding progress for an institution built primarily to enroll students privileged enough to attend college — and not necessarily to graduate them.

For the latest — and greatest — example of this sea change we can look to Indiana. Faced with ever-common declines in resources for higher education, leaders…

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There’s growing concern with higher education’s affordability problem, as well there should be. It’s hard to see how college will promote social mobility if a kid’s ability to access it is increasingly linked to whether or not his family has money.

So it’s heartening to see college leaders attempting to provide solutions. But it’d be even better if we first saw them earnestly attempting to understand where the real sources of trouble lie. I’m afraid that step’s being skipped a bit too often, running the risk of making things worse.

Here’s a recent example. At this month’s regents board meeting, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly was explicitly asked to name some solutions to promoting affordability at his institutions.  There were many ways he could respond. To his credit, Reilly acknowledged the importance of growing the state’s paltry support for need-based aid and…

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I love a good controversy about an important higher-education topic. What better way to enjoy a Wisconsin snowstorm than to sit cozily inside, trading e-mail messages with knowledgeable folks who are trying to sort out why it appears college completion rates have declined in the United States over the last 30 or 40 years. I’m hard-pressed to think of one (well, maybe, after a long day of work having this  38-week fetus out of me would be nice). So, thanks to Sarah Turner, John Bound and Michael Lovenheim for giving us such a nice meaty analysis to chew over this week.

There’s already been a good bit written about and commented on from this report, particularly by Cliff Adelman, the man who gave the world America’s longitudinal transcript data and a robust series of reports on what they tell us about colleges and students. The fact that so many people find so many different messages…

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