For-Profit Sector Clips for K.

Jenkins

July 1, 2010

Articles:

1. Another U.S. Senator Raises Doubts About For-Profit Higher Education

Chronicle of Higher Education

By Kelly Field

June 30, 2010

2. Students Claim Illinois For-Profit Misrepresented Its Program

Chronicle of Higher Education

By Alexandra Tilsley

June 30, 2010

3. Dana College Announces It Will Close, Blaming Accreditor’s Decision

Against New Owners

Chronicle of Higher Education

By Charles Huckabee

July 1, 2010

4. Standing Up to 'Accreditation Shopping'

Inside Higher Ed

By Scott Jaschik

July 1, 2010

5. U. of Phoenix Will Require Free Orientation Program

Inside Higher Ed

July 1, 2010
6. Illinois Democrat Dick Durban warns of public funding for for-profit
colleges, like University of Phoenix and DeVry

The Daily Caller

By Paul Conner

July 1, 2010

7. Senator slams for-profit colleges

Chicago-Tribune

By Katherine Skiba

July 1, 2010

8. What U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin Doesn’t Know About Higher Education

The Yorktown Patriot: Opinion

June 30, 2010

9. Senator Durbin Declares Battle To Stop Fed-Aid Abuse By For-profit

Colleges

All Headline News

By Tejinder Singh

June 30, 2010

10. 7 More Tips for Distance Learning

US News and World Report (Blog)

By Lynn Jacobs, Jeremy Hyman

June 30, 2010

June 30, 2010

Another U.S. Senator Raises Doubts About For-Profit Higher Education

By Kelly Field

Washington

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, joined a growing chorus of federal

lawmakers voicing concerns about the growth and cost of for-profit colleges in a speech
on Wednesday that called for limits on the amount of federal student aid that may be
spent on marketing and a review of a rule that allows for-profits to receive up to 90
percent of their revenue from federal aid.

Mr. Durbin also proposed a ban on companies that acquire accreditation through the
purchase of nonprofit colleges, and suggested greater scrutiny of loans that for-profit
colleges make to their students.

His remarks, in a speech at the National Press Club, came a week after the Senate
education committee held a hearing in which lawmakers vowed to crack down on "bad
actors" in the rapidly growing for-profit sector to protect federal student-aid dollars from
fraud and abuse. That hearing featured testimony from a Wall Street investor, Steven
Eisman, who likened for-profit higher education to the real-estate market before its
collapse, with easy credit driving prices ever higher and large defaults looming.

In his speech, Mr. Durbin cited Mr. Eisman's testimony and echoed its warnings.

"There is growing concern that we could be looking at a repeat of the subprime-

mortgage fiasco, with low-income, high-risk students mortgaging their futures—not on
overpriced homes this time, but worthless diplomas," he said.

Mr. Durbin promised to work on legislation taking aim at for-profits with Sen. Tom Harkin
of Iowa, chairman of the education committee.
June 30, 2010

Students Claim Illinois For-Profit Misrepresented Its Program

By Alexandra Tilsley

Students who say they did not receive the education they were promised have sued the
Illinois School of Health Careers and its parent company, Forefront Education Inc., and
the Illinois State Board of Education has also begun an investigation of the for-profit
college.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court and
seeks class-action status, as many as 350 students who were enrolled in the Chicago
college's program for patient-care technicians were led to believe, through promotional
materials and discussions with college employees, that they would be qualified to take
the state's certified-nursing-assistant examination after completing the 32-week
curriculum.

But, as it turns out, the program is not certified by the Illinois Department of Public
Health. Its graduates may work in auxiliary positions in the medical field, but cannot care
for patients, as a certified nursing assistant can.

The college sent its students a letter to that effect in early June, hoping to clear up
misconceptions.

"It came to our attention that certain of the students in the Patient Care Technician
Program were under the impression that upon completion of the PCT program, they
would be eligible to take the Illinois Certified Nursing Assistant examination," David F.
Mohr, president of Forefront Education, wrote in an e-mail. "That assumption was not
correct. The letter was sent to clarify any lingering confusion on the part of students,
address any associated complications, and to update students on the status of ISHC's
pending application for certification to the IDPH to allow graduates to be eligible to sit for
the Illinois CNA."
But by the time the letter was sent, the program had been enrolling students for a year,
and many had invested significant amounts of time and money. Thomas A. Zimmerman,
the lawyer representing the students, said tuition and fees for the program cost $13,750,
which the students paid with a combination of student loans, federal financial aid, and
their own money. Some students had been enrolled for as long as 10 months.

"That's a long time, 10 months of their lives," Mr. Zimmerman said.

Four students filed the lawsuit on behalf of the class less than two weeks after the
college sent out the letter.

"Earlier this month, the first group of students started to graduate, and they wanted to sit
for the CNA exam and found out they could not," Mr. Zimmerman said.

The complaint describes the students in the patient-care-technician program as "low-

income residents of the Chicagoland area." It contends that students enrolled "based on
the misrepresentations and omissions" of employees of both the college and its
corporate parent.

"Plaintiffs and class members attempted to obtain accurate information on all aspects of
the PCT Program from school officials on numerous occasions, but were repeatedly
ignored," the complaint says.

'A Solid Foundation'

Mr. Mohr, the Forefront president, said in an e-mail that the college was reviewing the
lawsuit and planned to "vigorously defend" its program. He added: "We are committed to
our students and believe the program offers a solid foundation for those seeking a
career in the health-care industry."

The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for the students' tuition, compensation for the time
they spent in the program, and money to enroll in a certified-nursing-assistant program,
Mr. Zimmerman said. The tuition reimbursement alone would total $5-million.

A similar lawsuit was filed against Corinthian Colleges Inc. in 2007, with students
complaining that the company had lied about job-placement rates and career
opportunities. Corinthian ultimately agreed to a $6.5-million settlement.
The State Board of Education is also investigating the students' assertions. If
investigators find that the college misled its students, the consequences could range
from a warning letter to revoking the college's certification to operate, according to a
spokeswoman from the board.

The college is also certified by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools.
According to Mr. Mohr, it is in the process of seeking certification from the Illinois
Department of Public Health.

Forefront Education was founded in 1999, part of a trend of private-equity firms investing
in for-profit colleges, creating holding companies to operate chains of the colleges, then
selling them to another buyer or taking the company public. For-profit education
attracted some major private-equity players, including GTCR Golder Rauner, which
invested in Forefront because of its high profit margin. By 2003, Forefront had acquired
seven colleges, but the Illinois School of Health Careers is the only college now under
ForeFront's umbrella.
July 1, 2010

Dana College Announces It Will Close, Blaming Accreditor's Decision Against New
Owners

By Charles Huckabee

Dana College, a small, financially struggling institution in Nebraska that had sought a
path back to solvency through a sale to private investors, announced on Wednesday
that the sale would not proceed and that the college would close because its
accreditation would not transfer to the potential new owners.

The investor group that had formed to buy the college, an entity called Dana Education
Corporation, had said in March that it planned to maintain a residential campus but also
offer online courses. The college's accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission of the
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, cited the planned online courses
among its reasons for denying the institution's request for its accreditation to continue
after a change of control.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, the commission said the transfer proposal failed to
demonstrate sufficient continuity of the college's mission and educational programs, and
to show that the college's "institutional and educational integrity" would be protected.

In an online statement, Dana College officials criticized the Higher Learning

Commission's decision as "inaccurate, unfair, and based on speculation and information
not included in the required change-of-control request. "

"We are devastated that despite meeting all requests and assiduously working to meet
all requirements, the HLC decision does not allow for Dana's continuing operation,"
Dennis Gethmann, chairman of the college's Board of Regents, said in the statement.

The statement quoted Raj Kaji, president of Dana Education Corporation, as saying that
the group was "deeply saddened" by the effect the decision would have on the college,
its community, and "the hundreds of students who will be displaced."
The 125-year-old college, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, has about 550 students. Dana said it has agreements with the University of
Nebraska at Omaha and Grand View University, in Iowa, that will allow its students to
continue their studies.

The accreditor's decision comes as Congress and the Department of Education have
ratcheted up their scrutiny of the fast-growing for-profit higher-education sector and the
agencies that accredit for-profit colleges. Two weeks ago, at a hearing of the House of
Representatives education committee, lawmakers took the Higher Learning Commission
to task for the standards it had used in granting approval to another for-profit institution,
American InterContinental University.

That hearing came on the same day that the Education Department announced
proposed new rules that would hold for-profit institutions, which account for 25 percent of
all Pell Grant funds, more accountable in the ways they market themselves and for the
education they provide.

Last week, the Senate education committee held a hearing in which lawmakers vowed to
crack down on "bad actors" in the sector to protect federal student-aid dollars from fraud
and abuse.

And on Wednesday, a key senator called for a ban on the practice of allowing
companies to acquire accreditation through the purchase of nonprofit colleges. That was
one of several concerns voiced by Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, in a
speech in Washington. He also called for limits on the amount of federal student aid that
may be spent on marketing, a review of a rule that allows for-profit colleges to receive up
to 90 percent of their revenue from federal student aid, and a closer look at private loans
that for-profit colleges make to their students.
Standing Up to 'Accreditation Shopping'

July 1, 2010

Critics of for-profit higher education have of late drawn attention to what they see as a
pattern of "accreditation shopping" in which for-profit entities purchase financially
struggling nonprofit colleges, and then hold on to the regional accreditation that the
nonprofit colleges had for years, even as the new owners expand or radically change the
institutions' missions.

One accreditor is saying "not so fast." The Higher Learning Commission of the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools has recently rejected two "change of
control" requests to have accreditation continue with the purchases of nonprofit colleges
(Dana College, in Nebraska, and Rochester College, in Michigan) by for-profit entities.
Further, the accreditor insisted on a series of stipulations to approve the continued
accreditation of Iowa's Waldorf College -- stipulations that will effectively keep the near-
term focus of the college on its residential, liberal arts mission.

The rejection of the accreditation continuation for Dana led the college's board to
announce Wednesday that its purchasers no longer consider the deal viable. As a result,
the sale will not take place and the college, founded in 1884, will shut down. There will
be no operations for the 2010-11 academic year.

The decisions by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) have been based on a new set
of policies the accreditor approved that require that the mission remain similar after a
purchase if the new owner wants the accreditation to carry over. A new owner who
wants to change an institution's mission still has the right to apply as a candidate for
initial accreditation, but that process takes longer and is one that many purchasers of
colleges want to avoid.

Sylvia Manning, president of the HLC, said that the new policy was designed to prevent
the use of a struggling college's accreditation to launch entirely new institutions. "This
practice that has been called 'accreditation shopping' -- that's something we are very
much opposed to. Accreditation is not like a liquor license."
The HLC does not release details on its decisions, although it announces them in
general terms and plans to announce its decision on Dana today. A letter delivered to
the college Wednesday was leaked to The Lincoln Journal Star. Manning declined to
confirm the details in the letter that were quoted by the newspaper, but other sources
verified its authenticity.

Dana, a Lutheran liberal arts institution, announced in March that it was being purchased
by a new for-profit company. The new owners at the time said that they were going to be
focused on building up the college in its present form -- and that they were committed to
keeping the college's tenure system, an unusual move in for-profit higher ed.

The HLC letter, as described in the Lincoln newspaper, suggested that the investors had
in mind a much more dramatic shift in Dana's mission than they indicated at the time the
purchase was announced. According to the Lincoln newspaper, the HLC rejected the
idea of maintaining accreditation because of "an inability to demonstrate sufficient
continuity of the college's mission and educational programs," in part due to an interest
in offering online programs that would represent a shift from the college's "residential
liberal arts programs."

Further, the HLC found that the new board lacks enough autonomy from the investors,
and that the proposed leaders of the new college lacked sufficient experience leading
liberal arts colleges to manage Dana.

Manning said that HLC acted in the Dana case, as well as in the reviews of the purchase
of Rochester and Waldorf, under new rules that were adopted last year and finalized this
year to govern the reviews of accreditation status in such shifts of ownership. The new
rules place a strong emphasis on continuity of mission -- a standard that could be
difficult for purchasers who want to revive the finances of a traditional college by
launching a major distance education operation.

The new rules say, for instance, that HLC will consider "the extension of the mission,
educational programs, student body and faculty that were in place when the commission
last conducted an onsite evaluation of the affiliated institution" and "the ongoing
continuation and maintenance of the institution historically affiliated with the commission
with regard to its mission, objectives, outreach, scope, structure, and related factors."

There is nothing wrong, Manning said, with purchasing a college with the idea of shifting
its mission, but the appropriate thing to do in such cases is to apply as a candidate for
initial accreditation, not to transfer existing recognition. "If it's the same college, then we
can extend the accreditation," she said.
She said that the policy on change of ownership was detailed over the last year because
of the increasing number of for-profit purchases of nonprofit institutions. "We didn't have
this 10 years ago," she said.

Manning confirmed that HLC has also rejected the continuation of accreditation for
Rochester College under a planned purchase, but she declined to say why. Rochester, a
Christian college in Michigan, announced that it was being purchased by University
Education, which is a subsidiary of K12 Inc., a publicly traded company that has focused
on providing online education for elementary and secondary school students. K12 has
been building links with higher ed of late, announcing a deal in April in which it is working
with Middlebury College to apply the college's expertise in foreign language instruction to
the pre-college population.

The deal with Rochester, according to a description on the college's Web site, seems to
be based on the kind of mission shift that creates a conflict with the new HLC rules.
"After exploring other potential candidates, K12 has selected Rochester College as its
partner of choice for beginning its work in higher education. Through K12’s wholly owned
subsidiary, University Education, the school will continue to operate as Rochester
College -- under a new Board of Trustees and with access to its world-class technology
platform for delivering online courses," the statement says, adding that a physical
campus will also be maintained and improved.

Officials of Rochester and K12 did not respond to requests for comment. Rochester's
statement on the reason for selling cited financial reasons: "Harsh economic realities
have closed several small colleges over the past few years. Onerous debt, a declining
donor base, poor financial decisions, and a harsh recession have combined to put
Rochester College at risk."

As for Waldorf, whose accreditation was allowed to continue after a for-profit purchase,
Manning stressed that many stipulations were placed on the college as a condition of
continued accreditation. Those stipulations, Manning said, "essentially controlled the
growth and required them to sustain the college." There are "limits on programs not
already in place," she added. "They can't walk away from that traditional mission."

At Dana, college leaders were clearly frustrated with the decision to deny continued
accreditation after a sale. The official statement announcing closure said that "HLC’s
decision was inaccurate, unfair and based on speculation and information not included in
the required change of control request."
The college has about 550 students, and officials said that agreements with the
University of Nebraska at Omaha and Grandview University, in Iowa, would allow
students to continue their studies.

— Scott Jaschik
U. of Phoenix Will Require Free Orientation Program
The University of Phoenix plans to require all students who enter the for-profit institution
with less than 24 hours of college credit to participate in a free, three-week orientation
program aimed at ensuring that students are ready for college-level work, the university's
parent company, the Apollo Group, announced in a quarterly financial report
Wednesday. The company said it expected that the change -- which will expand a pilot
program -- would, along with changes in its marketing strategy designed to focus on
stronger students, hurt its 2011 enrollment levels, "net revenue operating profit, and
cash flow. However, we believe that these efforts are the right thing to do for our
students and, over the long-term, will improve student persistence and completion rates
and therefore reduce bad debt expense and position us for more stable long-term cash
flow growth."
Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin warns of public funding for for-profit colleges, like
University of Phoenix and DeVry
By Paul Conner - The Daily Caller | Published: 2:34 AM 07/01/2010 | Updated: 4:06 AM
07/01/2010

Illinois Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin warned Wednesday that the world of higher
education could experience its own version of the subprime mortgage crisis if Congress
does not take steps to regulate federal loans given to students at for-profit universities.

“The goal seems to be to bring in as many students as possible — regardless of their

ability to succeed or graduate — load them up with loans, and leave taxpayers on the
hook if students default,” Durbin said.

Durbin, the majority whip, told an audience at the National Press Club that he wants to
partner with Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, to craft regulatory legislation to introduce
late this year or early next year.

When asked whether he thinks he can win support among his colleagues, Durbin said,
“We’ll see.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Durbin said. “There’s a lot of federal money involved here,
and they have bought all the lobbyists in town, which is their constitutional right.”

“Just as with the subprime mortgage crisis, private companies rake in the profits, and
taxpayers bear nearly all the risks,” Durbin said. “What makes this doubly frustrating is
that we’ve been through this before.”

According to the Department of Education, students at for-profit colleges make up only 7

percent of the people receiving higher education, but 44 percent of those defaulting on
federal student loans, Durbin said.

Tuition at for-profit schools is about five times the price of community colleges, and
about twice as much as public four-year colleges, according to a report from the College
Board.

For-profit universities such as the University of Phoenix and DeVry University received
$4.3 billion in Pell grants and $19.6 billion in Stafford loans, according to a Senate report
that came out last week.

Durbin and Harkin have asked the Government Accountability Office to assess how
effective for-profit schools are.
The Department of Education is pursuing regulations that would require for-profit schools
to disclose graduates’ success rates.

“There are many good trade schools and for-profit colleges, and they serve a vital
purpose,” Durbin said. “But there are also a lot of bad for-profit schools that are raking in
huge amounts of federal dollars while leaving students poorly trained and over their
heads in debt.”
Senator slams for-profit colleges

June 30, 2010|By Katherine Skiba, Tribune reporter

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin said Wednesday that legislation to strengthen

regulation of for-profit schools was ahead, complaining that some of the schools leave
students with whopping levels of debt and "worthless diplomas."

While many schools are good, the Illinois Democrat said, others are "raking in huge
amounts of federal dollars" while persuading low-income students to mortgage their
futures on degrees that will not attract high-paying jobs.

Durbin described a woman with $110,000 in student-loan debt and "purported"

bachelor's and master's degrees — all from online study —who took a job with a
Chicago nonprofit that helps poor children.

"She had never set foot in a classroom," he said, and her income left her unlikely to
repay her loans.

Durbin, in remarks at the National Press Club, named the large chains — the University
of Phoenix, Kaplan University and the Illinois-based DeVry University — but did not
single any out for bad practices. Highlights of his talk:

•With 2.6 million students, up from 673,000 in 2000, the for-profits represent the largest
growing sector in higher education.

•The University of Phoenix has 458,000 students, or more than all the Big Ten's
undergraduates.

• The schools, using aggressive marketing campaigns, tend to enroll women, many of
them single parents, minorities, poor and first-generation college students. Military
personnel and veterans also are increasingly admitted.

•Students in the for-profits receive $26.5 billion in federal aid, a more than fivefold
increase since 2000, and their loan default rate is high.
•The schools have less than 10 percent of all college students, but collect nearly 25
percent of Pell grant dollars.

•The schools heavily rely on federal grants and loans, some for almost 90 percent of
their revenues.

Durbin said the recession, aggressive head-hunting and the failure of public colleges to
meet demand has led to enrollment growth. But he said the Obama administration is
drafting new rules that may cut federal aid to for-profits if their graduates have a high
student-loan default rate.

He also said for-profits should release graduation and job-placement rates. He

characterized his as a "difficult" fight, saying the schools had "bought all the lobbyists in
town," including at least a half dozen of his former congressional colleagues.

At DeVry Inc., based in Downers Grove, senior vice president Sharon Thomas Parrott
said the firm would give "careful consideration" to Durbin's comments.
What U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin Doesn’t Know About Higher Education

Jun 30, 2010

Senator Dick Durbin (R-Il), acting as lap dog for the radicals in the Obama White House,
has picked up the baton from departed Undersecretary of Education Robert Shireman
and gave a stunning and biased speech at the National Press Club. You can read the
text of that speech given at the National Press Club by clicking HERE. The National
Press Club is but a few miles from Georgetown University where Sen. Durbin earned the
B.S. in 1966 and the J.D. in 1969. It’s clear Sen. Durbin didn’t learn much about
education at Georgetown.

Here’s what he missed:

1) Traditional higher education is in crisis because of a broken business model.

Despite the size and importance to the domestic economy of the United States of more
than 4,000 accredited colleges and universities, the operation of these institutions is
inefficient, highly fragmented, lacking in professional management, based on 19th
century technology and governed by the government sanctioned Cartel defined by
regional accreditation. Added to the dysfunctional administration of operations is an
ideology of “Political Correctness” which politicizes the administration of most academic
Departments and residence facilities. The transition to cafeteria style education in the
late 1960s was accompanied by the introduction of pseudo academic disciplines in
Gender, Women, Black, Chicano, Peace and other politically motivated studies. The
growth in college administrators versus classroom teachers also has enhanced the
power of a new class of non-academic administrators whose responsibility is to conduct
re-education programs in residence halls. Modeled on classic prisoner interrogation
methods, these programs are designed to break down traditional attitudes of
impressionable students and replace them with politically correct views about gender,
race, politics and the environment. This politicization leads to expenditures for politicized
programs and non-market oriented business decisions that add to a pattern of spiraling
tuition costs. In 2007–08, public institutions spent $261 billion ($27,176 per student in
2008–09 dollars). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 28
percent of this amount, $7,703 per student, was spent on instruction. Between 1987-
1988 and 2007-2008, the cost at a four-year public institution rose 78 percent from
$7,631 to $13,589. Average undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board rates increased
to $13,424 at public 4-year institutions and $30,393 at private 4-year institutions.

The education consumer now faces college tuition costs that have been driven to levels
far beyond the ability of most middle class families to pay and students are compelled to
seek low cost alternatives at two-year public institutions.

Public institutions that are subsidized by the states are incapable of reducing tuition
costs at a time when students from middle class families are moving from high tuition
private colleges to public community colleges and universities. Proprietary education
companies now find that they can compete, even on the basis of price, with some public
institutions. In that context, proprietary Internet universities that do not grant academic
tenure, operate with “flat” organization structures and programs attuned to market
demand are a substantial threat to traditional higher education. As such, the first glimpse
of a future reorganization in the 21st Century of higher education has become visible.

In light of these high college tuition costs, a crisis of major proportions is in development
that is challenging the ability of many small colleges to survive. Dick Durbin wants to bar
the acquisition of those failing colleges by for-profit colleges.

2) Traditional education costs more than for-profit education.

Here is a list of tuition costs at Internet-based institutions, many of which are “for-profit.”
3) Traditional education lacks intellectual diversity.

Social, political, and economic developments since the Great Depression have created a
void of course content in classical Economics, humanistic studies grounded in the
Judaeo-Christian tradition and the traditional Liberal Arts. College Faculty in the
Humanities and Social Sciences who challenge Wilsonian Idealism in foreign policy and
state intervention in the economy represented by New Deal, New Frontier and Great
Society economic programs represent an insignificant percentage of all Faculty teaching
in these disciplines. In History Departments few traditional “History” programs remain
offering potential scholars instruction in “Western Civilization.” In Political Science and
Government few and far between are the Universities where graduate students may
study Classical political philosophy. And in Economics, George Mason University, Texas
A&M, Auburn and a few others are the only Economics degree programs that continue
to offer classical studies that are focused on markets and public choice. Few institutions
feature Supply-Side economists. If graduate students earn degrees and write
dissertations in these subjects, they find that tenure-track University employment is often
difficult to obtain.

Classical Economics usually associated with Adam Smith and neoclassical schools that
we associate with the Austrian economists, Milton Friedman and especially the Supply-
side Economists, are under-represented in Academe. That is also the case with
historians schooled in the history of Western Civilization who formerly taught Western
Civilization survey courses that are no longer required. Also absent from today’s
university curricula are courses in philosophy exemplified by Christopher Dawson, Eric
Voegelin, Bernard Lonergan and other philosophers and political theorists rooted in the
philosophical traditions of ancient Greek philosophy and Christian philosophers such as
St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. The recovery of the history of the American
Founding and the philosophy of limited government of the Founders of the Constitutions
of the United States that has enriched American post-World War II historical scholarship
is absent in the Core Curricula of American institutions of higher education. The
traditional Core Curriculum of American higher education has been abandoned for
cafeteria style education that puts undergraduates at a loss to acquire the knowledge
required of citizens of a representative government. By dropping these traditional
subjects, higher education has become an engine of cultural and civilizational
disaffection, disdain bordering on hatred of our core institutions, and shoddy instruction
scaled up for mass consumption that has helped to put American higher education into
steep decline. The new elite that is moving into general succession of America’s basic
institutions has less love of country, less understanding of history, and less regard for its
civilizational inheritance than any previous generation in the nation’s history. If it is
collectively moved by anything, it is the earnest desire to rid the world of American
prosperity and power and to usher in the imaginary era of “global citizenship.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1National Center for Education Statistics,
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2010/section5/indicator49.asp

2Neal McCluskey, “Unbearable Burden?” Cato Institute Policy Analysis, No. 629,
December 15, 2008.

3http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_332.asp

4Klein & Stern, “Among social-science and humanities professors up through age 70,
the overall Democrat:Republican ratio is probably 8:1.” Your author learned recently that
the University of Oregon doesn’t employ even one registered Republican on its Faculty.
7 More Tips for Distance Learning
June 30, 2010 10:41 AM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman

Last week, we offered 7 tips for that ever-expanding newcomer on the college scene:
distance learning. This week, we offer 7 more:

1. Mine the syllabus. More than even at a traditional university, the course syllabus is
the controlling document of the course. Not only might it tell you the course goals, the
readings or projects, and the assignments, it also might lay out, day by day, what you're
supposed to do. (One distance-learning professor we know gives out a two-page
syllabus in his community college course but a 10-page syllabus at the same distance
learning class.) Be sure to go over each point of your syllabus, and if something is not
absolutely clear to you, e-mail the professor to ask. You can't do it right if you aren't clear
what to do.

[Search U.S. News's Online Education directory.]

2. Inquire who the professor is. Given that many distance learning colleges (and even
online programs at community colleges and 4-year colleges) do not have permanent
faculties (or do not use the permanent teachers for the online program), it's especially
important to check out the credentials of the person teaching the course. Look for the
instructor bio on the course Web page. Check out his or her degrees (the higher the
better), teaching experience (how many years, at what level), and whether he or she is
trained in the field you're going to take. And, if the info isn't there, send an e-mail (polite,
of course) asking a few questions about the instructor's background. A good instructor
should not take offense and should have nothing to hide.

[Read 6 Questions to Ask When Choosing an Online Professor.]

3. Learn the timetable. It probably hasn't occurred to you, but some online courses
(especially those offered by community colleges) run on the traditional 15-week
schedule: Here you can only start when the semester starts, and the work follows the
same pace as the standard in-person classes. But other (especially at for-profit colleges)
offer five-week courses: Here the work is more concentrated (you'll have to read
practically every day), but you're often allowed to start when you want. And still other
colleges allow you to take as long as you want to complete the course: The advantage
here is you are completely free to set your own schedule, which is also the
disadvantage, if you're not disciplined.

4. Assess your level of comfort. In many distance learning courses, especially those
tilted away from lectures and papers in the direction of discussion and projects, you'll
find that group activities are an essential—and graded—part of the course. You might be
asked to share information about yourself, for example, introducing yourself, providing a
photo or bio, and interacting in real time with other people taking the course. If this is an
environment you don't feel comfortable in, you might do better in the traditional, more
anonymous kind of course offered at the regular university.

5. Keep up with the pace. The biggest pitfall with online courses is falling behind. It's
the easiest thing in the world to put off that reading, or plan to write the paper the next
weekend, when there's no prof, or fellow students there in person to motivate you. And if
you're used to cramming from high school, from college courses you've already taken, or
from the way you do your work at your job, well, the distance learning structure (or lack
thereof) will magnify your problems significantly. Rule of thumb: at online college, to put
off is to never do.

4-Star Tip. Watch or listen to the lecture as soon as it is put up. That way, you'll have
plenty of time for the associated homework and to do the reading for the next lecture.

6. Back up your stuff. Since all your homework, papers, tests and projects are going to
be submitted electronically, you wouldn't want to lose your work just because your
computer—or that of your professor—crashed.

Extra Pointer. We especially recommend external backups, either on an external hard

drive or on an online service. Among external drives, we like the portable Seagate Free
Agent and Western Digital Passport models (about $100, depending on the storage size
and whether it's on a back-to-school sale). Among backup services, we like Mozy and
Carbonite (about $5 a month depending on the plan you select). You can also just e-mail
a copy of your work to yourself.

7. Take advantage of the virtual face-to-face interactions. Even though there's less
immediacy when your online professor isn't breathing on you as he or she lectures, there
are many opportunities for personal interaction with the teacher. Be sure you attend all
discussion sections, groups chats, and question-and-answer sessions. And when you
need help—for instance, in preparing your discussion postings—ask. Indeed, if the
distance learning class is smaller than the 300-person version at the traditional college,
you might get more face time with the professor than you would have gotten via the
traditional route. Electronic doesn't have to be impersonal.

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