Addressing the need for sustainable funding models in higher education

The global demand for postsecondary education has risen steadily and so too has the cost, the price the supply and the variety. The need for programs to prepare students has also risen. Regardless of the region in the world and policies on subsidization, there is growing pressure on postsecondary students and institutions to support student preparation access, success and completion. Spurred by national degree attainment goals, there is a growing imperative for postsecondary degrees and credentials. At the same time there are vast attainment gaps among population groups and growing gaps between cost/price and state and federal subsidies for programs that prepare students for successful participation. These pressures have ignited a movement toward local communities throughout the nation, making a commitment to finance the supplementary college preparation and the college attendance and completion of their students. A few communities have been able to make and fulfill the commitment with the financial pledges of wealthy donors and or corporations in hand, while most communities are still searching for sustainable financial models and funding to fulfill the promises that they are making. This sustainable funding problem in the U.S. mirrors the challenges that students and postsecondary institutions are facing in Europe and around the globe. This presentation will feature the work of Dr. Nettles and his colleagues over the past three years to identify, develop and explore innovative approaches to sustainable funding of student preparation, access and completion of postsecondary education in the U.S. The presentation will include data on the global and U.S. challenge, present the sustainable models that are emerging and elaborating on a few of the most novel and innovative and promising models.

Michael T. Nettles is Senior Vice President and the Edmund W. Gordon Chair of ETS’s Policy Evaluation & Research Center. He has a national reputation as a policy researcher on educational assessment, student performance and achievement, and educational equity. His publications reflect his broad interest in public policy, student and faculty access, opportunity, achievement, and assessment at both the K–12 and postsecondary levels. In August 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Nettles to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He was also appointed by two U.S. Secretaries of Education to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees and develops policies for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In addition, he served for eight years on both the College Board® of Trustees and the GRE® Board. Nettles now serves on the Southern Education Foundation Board of Trustees, the Board of Trustees of the Peddie School, the Board of Turstees of N.J. Coalition for Diverse and Inclusive Schools, Inc., the Board of the Directors of the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and the Board of Directors of the Urban League of Middle Tennessee. He has also served on the National Research Council Board on Testing and Assessment; the Joint Advisory Board for Education Research Centers in the state of Texas; the Board of the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California; the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inc.; and the International Advisory Panel on Assessment for the Human Science Research Council of the Republic of South Africa. A native of Nashville, Tenn., Nettles earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Tennessee. He received master’s degrees in political science and higher education, as well as a Ph.D. in education, at Iowa State University. About ETS At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC ® tests, the GRE ® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org