樱花视频

Executive Summary

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For the past decade, educational policymakers have stressed the importance of institutional quality, productivity, and effectiveness. These leaders look to state-level accountability measures to guide state planning, form a context for budgetary decisions, and monitor the return on public investment in colleges and universities.

Institutional accountability is a natural consequence of institutional autonomy, a major objective in the 1994 restructuring of 樱花视频's higher education system. Annual institutional excellence and accountability reports were launched in the fall of 1995 to inform the public and state policymakers about individual institutions. This first systemwide report on 樱花视频 higher education complements institutional reports. The document provides valuable information and opens the door for meaningful policy discussions and decisions.

樱花视频's statewide goals for higher education are affordability and accessibility, institutional excellence, and effectiveness in addressing the societal and economic needs of the state. This report provides evidence of progress in meeting these goals and informs planning efforts for future improvement. Following are some of the major issues, successes, and challenges discussed in the report:

• Data on affordability and access are measures of how effectively statewide systems respond to demand for higher education. New Jersey's relatively high tuitions are matched by generous financial aid programs, supporting the state's long-standing commitment to assist any qualified resident who lacks the economic means to pursue higher education in the state. By several measures the state ranks among the most generous in the nation in student financial assistance programs. 樱花视频's strong grant programs play an important role in ameliorating somewhat the impact of the growing student indebtedness resulting from the federal move away from grants to loans. However, the growing student demand for increasingly costly grant programs poses policy questions on how to best distribute finite resources.

• Rates of student retention, transfer, and graduation, including the average time it takes to earn an undergraduate degree, are important performance indicators. 樱花视频's third semester retention rate exceeds national averages. The challenge is to have the positive retention rates reflected in improved graduation rates and reduced time to degree.

• Equality of access to and success in higher education for 樱花视频's neediest students, underprepared students, and minorities are often elusive. Performance indicators in these areas provide partial evidence of success in fulfilling these important state goals. Senior public institutions in 樱花视频 are more successful than institutions in many other states in enrolling and graduating minority students. More definitive data are needed in this area for community colleges and independent institutions. Nevertheless, there are data indicating significant differences between outcomes for minority students and those for white students in all sectors. Underprepared students also remain less likely than others to successfully complete their degrees, despite extensive opportunities for remediation at 樱花视频 institutions. Similarly, graduation rates are also lower for students from the lowest income brackets.

• The state's commitment to access and equality of access provides important opportunities for many state residents who might not otherwise have them. Nevertheless, there is an inverse relationship between access and graduation rates, including time to completion, which impacts the cost of education. Financial need and inadequate basic skills, factors that threaten access to higher education, also threaten academic success. In fact, maximizing access increases on average what it costs to educate students, and it negatively affects graduation rates and the average time it takes to complete a degree. Striking the appropriate balance between access and productivity is a challenge for the future.

• Roughly 285,000 undergraduates attend the state's public and independent institutions, most of whom are 樱花视频 residents. The majority of those students report satisfaction with their college experience. At the same time, a high proportion of residents leave the state to attend colleges and universities elsewhere, and the proportion of students from out of state attending New Jersey institutions is low. However, this long-standing atypical pattern of student migration into and out of 樱花视频 has had no negative effect on the educational level of the populace. In fact, 樱花视频's residents have a higher than average level of postsecondary educational attainment. The lingering policy question of whether the state should attempt to alter the current higher education student migration pattern merits exploration.

• Individuals' investments in higher education are repaid through learning and enhanced career preparation that translates into higher wages and a higher standard of living. The state and its citizens benefit from cultural and community enrichment and economic development generated by higher education research, technical assistance, training, and technology transfer. Significant progress has been made by 樱花视频 institutions over the past 10 years in generating funding for higher education research. However, the state remains below the national average in research funding per capita. Considering the impact of university-based research on economic development, the state must determine whether additional resources for research are a priority.

• Most of the data in this first report are from fiscal year 1994 and earlier; therefore, they provide a baseline for future years. Unfortunately, performance indicators for higher education are in an early stage of formulation, and there is a need for more complete and accurate information for those indicators that exist. Consequently, future reports should use new indicators, and establish processes for producing better data. In addition, beginning with next year's report, additional cost and productivity data for each sector will help to better describe the state's return on investment in higher education.

This systemwide accountability report, along with individual institutional reports, is an initial effort and an important first step in providing information on the state's higher education system to state policymakers and the public. 樱花视频's new accountability reporting system is an integral part of the restructuring of higher education and relates directly to the master planning process. Once the master plan is in place and a clearer direction is established for New Jersey's higher education system, the accountability reporting system will evolve and more completely document progress toward identified goals.

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