Alternative Credentials Models: The Online & Professional Education Association in partnership with Wal-Mart recently published a report that examined the landscape of alternative credentials with an analysis of the programmatic and industry partnership models that are necessary to support and sustain them. The authors of the study noted that postsecondary institutions are increasingly opening up to alternative delivery models and credentials such as non-credit certificates, professional certificates, badges, bootcamps, massive open online courses (MOOCs) and more.
The following list includes key insights from the publication’s postsecondary administrator survey:
- 94% of respondents said that their institutions offer alternative credentials.
- 84% of institutions reported offering non-credit certificates, 82% offer professional certificates, 80% offer badges, 45% offer bootcamps and 26% offer MOOCs.
- 67% of institutions reported offering stackable credentials.
- Institutions use multiple models to finance alternative credentials: 75% of institutions reported using fee-based business models, 65% use revenue share, 57% use a self-funded entrepreneurial model and 54% use an employer-funded model.
- 71% of respondents reporting co-creating curriculum through employer engagement or partnership.
- Only 55% of institutions have a consistent process for the development of new alternative credentials.
Researchers also recommended including alternative credentials as a strategic priority within institutional plans, bringing in employers and corporate partners to contribute during the program development process, and avoiding “one size fits all” solutions.
Inequity in Degree Attainment: The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has published a report on recent trends and insights concerning degree attainment, value and inequity. Researchers ascertained that although postsecondary degree attainment increased by 6.7 percentage points from 2010 to 2020, gaps across racial and ethnic groups remained significant.
More statistics and insights below:
- Washington, D.C., North Carolina and Pennsylvania saw the most gains in the number of adults with an associate degree or higher.
- Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino adults experienced a nationwide degree attainment increase of 11% and 15% respectively, with Texas and Minnesota among the leading states showing gains.
- 26% of white adults hold a bachelor’s degree, 10 percentage points higher than Black/African Americans, 12 points higher than Hispanics/Latinos and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and 15 points higher than American Indian/Alaska Natives.
Researchers recommended strategies such as increasing access to career counseling, investing in high-quality credential programs, expanding financial aid for low-income students and rooting out occupational segregation as key actions that leaders can implement to combat attainment and access gaps across the board.
Federal Pandemic Relief Funding at Community Colleges: A report recently published by the Community College Research Center examined how money from the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund was distributed across community colleges, the extent to which these institutions spent their funds and the variation of allotment that occurred by institutional and student characteristics. Researchers analyzed over 900 colleges and found that nearly half (484) were total spenders, disbursing around 100% of their funds.
More findings and insights below:
- Lower spenders served higher numbers of underrepresented and Pell grant students than total spenders (43% vs. 35%).
- Per-student HEER awards averaged $9,179 for lower spenders and $5,044 for total spenders.
- States with larger community college enrollments like California, Florida and Texas received the highest amount of funds.
- Postsecondary institutions were awarded funds within a range of $306,000 to $25.3 million, depending on student enrollment numbers.
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