Our View

Our View

New funding formula links college dollars to success, not numbers

It seems as if the sales pitch to this proposed Higher Ed funding formula is that if these academic wizards running our colleges and universities get on board with it, they’ll be showered with bookoos of more tax dollars.

The idea behind all this is to overhaul a funding system that has been primarily based on enrollment numbers rather than performance, accountability and successful graduation rates. The basic framework for a revamped funding formula got the endorsement from the state Higher Education Coordinating Board but final approval will come from lawmakers when they meet in regular session beginning early next year.

The goal, we’re told, is to see the new funding model implemented beginning in the 2018-19 school year. As it stands right now, the plan would tie 100 percent of higher education funding to the achievement of specific outcomes, replacing the current model that ties 10 percent of funding to performance and most of the remainder to enrollment.

The desired outcomes under the proposed formula would include increased degree-completion rates, shorter times to graduate, reduced achievement gaps between groups of students and increased job attainment and retention by graduates.

The sales pitch is that if Arkansas colleges and universities embrace this new funding formula and take the suggested changes seriously, they would be in a stronger position to force lawmakers into giving them more tax dollars.

Right now, one of the big issues facing Arkansas colleges and universities is government funding, which we’re told hasn’t been increased in the last decade. All of the state’s colleges and universities have been forced to increase their revenues by increasing tuition and fees resulting in many students and their families being forced into deeper debt.

During a recent meeting of the state Higher Education Coordinating Board, one member made it clear that supporting the new formula demands additional funding. The board moved to ask Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Legislature for a funding increase for higher education, a request that we’re such will bring about considerable discussion and debate.

Rest assured, Hutchinson is well aware of a trade-off in getting this formula in play, and there is no doubt that when lawmakers politicize this issue during the session there will be additional tax dollars flowing into these colleges and universities. It is almost guaranteed. By the same token, we would certainly hope there are measures in place to monitor the success rate of what is being demanded of these colleges and universities.

Unfortunately, what we see possibly happening is a total lack of monitoring of these colleges and universities and nothing in place to hold them accountable if they fail to meet the new standards.

Let’s just say a college or university that is benefiting from additional revenues falls short of expectation.

Will they be required to refund the extra money they received? This could very easily be perceived to be just another way to bolster the bottom line with little or no strings attached. Every effort should be made to assure that this does not occur.