Morgan wins fight with UMUC over online program

The University of Maryland University College will not be allowed to offer Maryland students a community college administration degree, state education officials ruled last night, siding with arguments raised by Morgan State University that the online program would duplicate efforts at the historically black college.

A majority of the Maryland Higher Education Commission backed an earlier ruling by Secretary of Education James E. Lyons. Lyons had denied UMUC's request on the grounds that its proposed course of doctoral study would unnecessarily duplicate a unique program at Morgan, thus violating civil rights precedents set by the U.S. Supreme Court. UMUC had appealed that decision to the commission Oct. 14.

The commission also supported Lyons' decision that UMUC be allowed to offer its program to students from out of state. In addition, it promised Maryland students that an online graduate program will be offered in the subject area by September 2011 and said that Morgan State will get the first crack at filling that role.

Clinton Coleman, a spokesman for Morgan State, said the university had no comment on the decision. "This was UMUC's appeal, not ours," he said.

He was certain, however, that the historically black institution would be interested in offering the course of study online when the time comes.

"Our program is already moving in the direction" of offering online courses, he said.

William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the state university system, said he was "very, very disappointed" in the ruling. "It's hard to understand how, in the age of the Internet, you can restrict access to an online program in this way," he said.

In a statement last night, UMUC President Susan Aldridge also expressed disappointment, saying the college is "concerned at the policy level with the precedent that this sets and its impact on higher education in the state of Maryland. University of Maryland University College is the quintessential university serving working adults, and this decision prevents many taxpayers in Maryland from earning an important degree from a state university."

The case has attracted the notice of educators across the country because of its potential implications for the conflict between traditional and online programs.

Kirwan said the quelling of online programs runs counter to the state's comprehensive plan for higher education, which calls for expanding them.

He said he was "mystified" by the commission's decision and said he found an irony in its granting Morgan State the first chance to offer the online program in 2011 when UMUC has already developed one.

"They'll have to invest a lot of resources to develop that capacity," Kirwan said. "That appears to contradict one of the goals of online education, which is to lower costs.

"UMUC isn't supposed to duplicate a Morgan State program, but Morgan State will be given an opportunity to duplicate one of UMUC's," he added.

Lyons has said the decision to turn down UMUC's request is not a far-reaching one and speaks only to this particular conflict with Morgan.

"This is not a challenge to the mission or future of UMUC," he said.

At the Oct. 14 appeal hearing, Morgan President Earl S. Richardson said he would prefer that UMUC not be allowed to offer the program anywhere. He argued that its existence would erode demand for a 10-year-old program that is working well and serving a diverse population at Morgan. (Thirty of the program's 50 students are white.)

"The harm done by unnecessary duplication is so pervasive and compelling that we cannot afford to maintain silence," Richardson said.

The Supreme Court has traditionally opposed the duplication of programs at historically black universities, arguing that it promotes segregation.

In the 1992 case United States v. Fordice, the Supreme Court held that, barring "sound educational justification," duplication of specialized and graduate academic programs at historically black and white colleges violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

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Online Degrees Viewed More Favorably

While there is still a stigma attached to online education, new data indicate that employer perception of online schools is changing.

By leveraging the Internet, online colleges and universities have opened up countless opportunities to learners. Online learning — learning that takes place partially or entirely over the Internet — has become popular because of its potential for providing more flexible access to content and instruction at any time, from any place.

Reuters reports that online education grew 13 percent last year, and that nearly one-quarter of students now take some online college courses. In 2002, only 10 percent did so. Of more than 18 million U.S. college students, 3.9 million were enrolled in at least one online college course in fall 2007, a 13 percent rise from 2006. Over the same period, traditional on-campus enrollment increased 1 percent.

Adult mid-career professionals, in particular, are flocking to study in online courses and even earn entire degrees through distance learning. The benefits are obvious: They offer convenience, accommodating work and family schedules.

As such, institutions offering online degrees have proliferated in the adult and higher education landscape to meet these needs.

However, many people remain concerned about a certain stigma being attached to their online coursework. Some institutions lack the appropriate accreditation, while some universities — dubbed "degree mills" — award diplomas not worth much more than the paper they are printed on.

Yet "the lingering image of online business schools as diploma mills is oversimplified, to say the least," BNET says.

Already, acceptance of online university degrees is on the rise, gaining in popularity, legitimacy and prestige. Many corporations are hiring applicants with online degrees or providing tuition reimbursement, according to new findings.

"CFOs and faculty believe the quality of online education is as good as face-to-face," I. Elaine Allen, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College and co-author of Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008, recently told eLearn Magazine. Staying the Course is part of an ongoing Sloan Foundation-sponsored project that annually surveys every school of higher education in the U.S., asking questions about their online learning options.

The results of the Sloan study reinforce new findings from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

In a July 2009 survey of human resources (HR) professionals across industries, 76 percent of respondents said they view online university degrees more favorably today than they did five years ago. Moreover, individual courses (as opposed to online degrees) taken through online universities are considered as credible as traditional university courses by 58 percent of respondents.

Of the companies that provide tuition assistance for courses, 95 percent of SHRM's respondents said there is no difference in terms of tuition assistance between employees studying through accredited online universities and those studying through accredited traditional universities for the same degree level.

Similarly, a Vault.com study reports that 83 percent of employers and hiring managers consider online degrees more acceptable than they were five years ago.

"[T]he notion that online study is inferior is not borne out by the evidence," BNET says.

Proponents of online education cite a recent Department of Education study that leaned in favor of blended and online learning.

Examining a 12-year span of studies completed mostly in college and adult-education programs, the U.S. Department of Education reports this year that some online learning (i.e., blended learning) is actually superior to exclusively face-to-face learning. The Education Department report follows other meta-analyses published in the Review of Educational Research, in Teachers College Record and by Concordia University's Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance.

The perceived quality of courses taken over the Internet also depends on the online university offering them.

A 2008 Inside Higher Education article referenced a Zogby International survey indicating that corporate HR directors and CEOs "valued online degrees from well-known colleges more than those from lesser-known institutions."

Vault.com reports that 77 percent of hiring managers consider an online degree received through an established university, such as Duke or Stanford, more acceptable than a degree earned through an Internet-only university, like Capella or Jones International. Some say such an assessment is unfair, as Capella and Stanford have the same regional accreditation and uphold rigorous academic standards. (Source: Back2College.com)

Despite the rapid growth of enrollment and more mainstream acceptance of online learning, many recruiters still see an online degree as an inferior credential.

Last year, when Vault.com asked if employers would give equal consideration to job candidates with online degrees and those with degrees from traditional colleges and universities, 63 percent of respondents said they would favor job candidates with traditional degrees while 35 percent said they would give them equal consideration.

For employers, even though roughly half of the 4,500 brick-and-mortar colleges and universities in the United States now offer online education programs, "a cultural shift will be required before employers greet online degrees without skepticism," the Washington Post recently said. "But all the elements are in place for that shift."

An online university - with no fees

W has no campus, no lecture theatres and hardly any paid staff, but the International University of the People, which opened last month, does have one big plus point – no tuition fees.

This, and the fact that its courses are taught entirely online and are designed to make it accessible to people who, because of poverty, geography or personal restrictions, would never contemplate university study. "Hundreds of millions of people deserve to get education and don't," says UoPeople's founder, Shai Reshef, a California b usinessman. "We are showing a way that this mass of people can be educated in a very efficient and inexpensive way."

The university's ambition to democratise education, combined with its not-for-profit ethos, has brought it support from humanitarian organisations, including the UN's Global Alliance for ICT and Development. But its teaching model, which uses open-source technology, the increasing availability of free educational material available online, social networking and more than 800 volunteer educators, has also attracted attention because of broader implications for the way higher education will be delivered in future.

"The concept is great, and one we'll see more and more," says Peter Scott, director of the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University, which itself gives free access to course materials through the OpenLearn website. He says so much high-quality material now exists on the web that traditional university models can no longer be seen as the only arbiters of quality.

Maintaining quality will nevertheless be an important challenge for the UoPeople, which does not yet have accreditation, and which relies on academic volunteers to answer questions, monitor discussions, mentorstudents and develop curricula.

Reshef says his experience as chair of the board at Cramster.com, a website on which students, scholars and subject enthusiasts answer each other's questions, showed him how willing people were to help one another online, and how powerful that could be. But even he was surprised that so many volunteers came forward to help his UoPeople project. They include retired professors, graduate students and specialists in computing. The university also has an advisory committee made up mainly of academics.

Daniel Greenwood, professor of law at the Hofstra University school of law, New York, has volunteered a day a week, as well as to serve on the advisory committee. He wanted to help make education more widely available and liked the idea of being in on something new and potentially huge: "the notion that you can create something that can be expanded to serve tens of thousands of students who otherwise wouldn't be able to access education".

Another committee member is Jack Balkin, a professor at Yale Law School, and founder of Yale's Information Society Project, which has just entered into a research partnership with UoPeople to explore ways of improving access to knowledge.

The university is still at the experimental stage, and relatively small. It was launched last month with 178 students from nearly 50 countries, and provides just two undergraduate programmes, business administration and computer science – each expected to take four years to complete. Applicants need to have a high school diploma, be proficient in English, and to have internet access, as well as passing orientation courses in computer skills and English composition.

Dan Narita, 30, who is among the first intake of computer science students, says he was attracted both by the flexibility of the course, which allows him to continue his work in London as an architect while studying, and by its newness. "I like the fact that it's an innovative model," he says. Social networking is a crucial part of the way the university works. Each week, groups of 20 students enter an online "classroom", similar to a discussion forum, in which they find the transcript of a lecture, with associated references and reading material. They also find an assignment, and a discussion question, which forms the core of their study. Each student is expected to contribute original ideas to the week's discussion, and to comment at least four times in the week on the ideas of fellow students.

If students have a question that cannot be answered within the classroom, they can enter a social networking forum made up of all the university's students as well as volunteer educators. There they can post a question, broach a topic not covered in the classroom discussion, or even access one-to-one time with a professor.

Scott says the amount of support students get from the online community is likely to prove crucial, as is the quality of assessment: "You cannot assess everything with multiple choice questions, and at the end of a quality experience is a reasonably skilled academic"

Peter Bradwell, whose report for the thinktank Demos, The Edgeless University, published earlier this year, argued that universities could be transformed by new technology, agrees that while the UoPeople is exciting, its success will depend on the quality of the academics behind it.

Reshef concedes there are still aspects of the university to be finessed – not least how to raise the relatively small sums needed to run it. While he has put up $1m (£626,000) of his own cash, he is still looking for a further $5m. Nor will the university be entirely free, with students charged registration fees of between $15 and $50 depending on their country of residence and between $10 and $100 per exam.

But the important thing, he says, is that his university offers many students their only hope of higher education. "The majority have no other alternative".

Can you get a debt-free degree?

Freshers' week is here again, and many new students are getting used to managing their finances for the first time while those applying for next year will be working out how to afford the cost of a degree.

With part-time jobs scarce, is it possible to keep debt at bay?

Alison Smith explores five ways that a debt-free degree might be a reality.

econd-year undergraduate Simon Hill got in touch with the BBC News website to say the media's assumption that studying led to large debts was beginning to annoy him.

"If these students put more thinking into their careers and plans, they can easily end up with no debt," he said.

"Some people are talking about getting debts of £20,000 - £30,000, and they don't need to."

Simon planned ahead and thinks he has earned money

So how does he do it?

Simon appears to have spent a lot of time thinking about how he could avoid debt.

He lives at home in north west London and mainly cycles the 40-minute journey to Brunel University, where he is studying financial computing.

He also works as a lifeguard at a swimming pool in Ruislip. He estimates he has made several thousand pounds so far while studying.

"Tutors gave us guidelines for part-time work of up to no more than 16 hours a week," he said.

"I have about 10 hours a week of lectures.

"I fit all my work in - I'd rather be in that position than sitting around," he adds.

He does not feel he is missing out on experiences by living with his family, saying he has joined clubs and societies at Brunel and enjoys university life.

"Parents are there to support you, and for me it's easier to work at home."

But the most important factor in all this is setting himself up for the future and being in a position to buy a property.

"I know people who will have to move back in with their parents after their degree because they will need to save money.

"For me, that's the wrong way round."

GET A COLLEGE DEGREE

You do not actually have to go to university to get a degree. Many colleges of further and higher education charge lower fees.

Jessica Barber dropped out of an English Literature course at Anglia Ruskin University because the costs of the course and commuting from her home were proving too expensive.

Now 22, Jessica left in November of her first year then enrolled at Havering College in Hornchurch, Essex, closer to her home.

Fees of £1,235 a year - roughly a third of most university courses - mean she is keeping down the costs.

However, she will still get into some debt by the end of the three-year course, partly because she had to pay fees for the first year at university which she did not complete.

She also has a one-year-old son and is now entering the third year of her BA in Youth and Community Work.

Studying at a college may not be for everyone - and many young people will want to experience university life.

But Jessica says that after having tried both, she feels more comfortable at college.

"I prefer the college environment," she says. "It's more informal.

"At university there are so many people, and it's very competitive - nobody wants to help one another.

"I've found the college offers a lot more support."

JOIN THE ARMY

There are two principal ways to become involved with the Armed Forces at university: one involves joining them after graduating and the other comes without obligation.

The University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) allows selected students to join the Territorial Army as Officer Cadets - and take part in military exercises, expeditions and community projects.

The Army website says: "UOTC training instils the leadership and teamwork skills that employers are crying out for."

And students are paid up to £57 per day, according to length of service, and given Army kit.

There are 19 University Officer Training Corps across the UK which serve universities in their area.

Army Undergraduate Bursaries are awarded to approximately 250 students each year, who are paid £1,000 a year and then a further £3,000 on leaving Sandhurst.

Students are then committed to three years' service.

The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force run similar bursaries.

BEG, STEAL, BORROW

Stealing is obviously not to be recommended, but many students are familiar with writing "begging letters".

The website www.studentmoney.org is one of the most widely-recognised sources of bursaries and other forms of financial support for students.

Many of the charities offering grants may award them to students with a particular status or who meet particular criteria.

The Educational Grants Advisory Service (EGAS), part of the charity Family Action, provides an online information service on grants offered by hundreds of charitable trusts.

After the euphoria of the A-level results, financial worries loom

Students can find out online which charities they may be eligible to apply to for funds.

Family Action itself also provides two sources of funding.

It awards grants of around £200 - £300 a year to individual students who would otherwise have difficulty financing a course of study.

And it supports single parents who wish to study with larger sums of money through the Horizons fund.

Students must normally be studying at an institution affiliated to EGAS.

Its head of grants, Fiona MacGillivray, said there has been a surge in applications.

"We have closed our educational grants for the first time in 11 years because we have run out of funds.

"There are a lot of people out there trying to re-train," she said.

Students may also find their former schools will be generous in supporting alumni going on to university, particularly if the school is linked to a charitable trust.

TAKE ADVICE

Money-saving experts have become more prominent in the media in recent years.

The good news is you do not normally have to pay for their services, because they carry articles and tips on their websites.

But for concrete advice on the nitty gritty of financial products and if you are worried about debt, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service can help.

And students can talk to their university welfare officers.

www.cashquestions.com is a website run by financial journalists who will answer any questions submitted online.

Its website has a section on student finance and a list of Top 10 tips.

Founder Annie Shaw says budgeting is key.

"Students should really think about things and plan - and most of all, choose their bank account carefully, because if they get overdrawn the fees could make things worse.

"Students are being edged out of jobs now, and it's got much tougher.

"I think students are getting scared of the debt, and it's meaning more are opting to live at home or close to home," she adds.

She says even little things can make a difference to the overall budget and small savings should not be dismissed.

"If you're going on a night out, take £10 out of the cash machine, and then you're not going to get involved in a drinking contest, or buy rounds.

"You have to be disciplined. It's not mean, and everybody's in the same boat."