Higher Education in the United States: Present Challenges and Future Policy Solutions

Higher Education in the United States: Present Challenges and Future Policy Solutions

Rebecca S. Natow, JD, EdD, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Hofstra University The year 2020 will be remembered as one of the most challenging in recent history, characterized by a deadly pandemic, economic recession, and a contentious U.S. presidential election. For higher

education, the events of 2020 forced tumult and emergency innovation upon a sector that was already facing an uncertain economic future (Doyle, 2020), and which has been famously resistant to rapid change (Marcus, 2017; Tagg, 2012). But the events of 2020 have also provided an opportunity for higher education to reflect upon its present situation, consider what the future may hold, and determine how best to advocate

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for policies that will improve higher education for students, communities, and other stakeholders. Colleges and universities play important roles in promoting education and economic development within their regions while providing social mobility, critical thinking skills, and other benefits for students (Chan, 2016; Ma et al., 2019; Mayhew et al., 2016; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). As such, society benefits greatly when the higher education sector is strong.

In this article, I draw from my own research in the field of higher education as well as other related literature to describe three key problems facing higher education

today: challenges with educational technology, the underutilization of educational research, and diminished financial resources for colleges and universities. This article also explains how public policy may provide solutions for those challenges and, in doing so, foster a brighter outlook for higher education in the United States.

Challenges With Educational Technology In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly propelled higher education into online environments across the U.S. and the world.

Classes, conferences, student clubs,

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and other events were conducted in virtual environments in order to meet social-distancing mandates and protect against transmission of the coronavirus.

The use of technology in higher education, particularly at such a large scale and with minimal preparation time, is not without its challenges. In an article I co-wrote as part of a research team with the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (see Natow et al., 2020), we reported findings on how technology is used in the instruction of academically underprepared college students at broad-access institutions.

Among the colleges we studied, the most frequently reported challenges with technology involved problems that students and professors experienced while using the technologies. Other challenges with technology included costs, limitations of technology products, and unavailability of the technology due to factors such as lack of broadband access for rural and low-income students, lack of accommodations for students with disabilities, and technical difficulties that made technology temporarily unusable (Natow et al., 2020). Other research has shown that faculty sometimes have difficulty engaging students in online classes (DeVore et al., 2017; Dixson, 2010).

even beyond the pandemic, problems such as these will continue to challenge higher education.

Underutilization of Educational Research Another challenge currently facing higher education is the relative lack of utilization of educational research in policy and practice. This is a dilemma for higher education for multiple reasons. First, universities are producers of much educational research, as professors of education and other social science faculty often conduct and publish educational research. When such research goes unused by decision makers, an important aspect of universities’ work becomes less effective than it has the potential to be. Additionally, higher education stakeholders stand to benefit when programs that research has found to be effective at promoting student learning and success are implemented.

Yet despite federal policies incentivizing educators to implement more evidence-based practices (Browder & Cooper-Duffy, 2003; West, 2015), studies have found that educational research is not often

... the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly propelled higher education into online environments across the U.S. and the world.

utilized – that is, decision makers only infrequently base decisions about education policy and programs on research (see, for example, Asen et al., 2011, 2013; Henig, 2008; Natow, 2020b).

The relative lack of research utilization in the federal higher education rulemaking process is a case-in-point.

Many of these challenges with educational technologies were reflected in reports about the large-scale pivot to online teaching and learning that occurred across higher education in response to COVID-19. For example, technology necessary to access remote classes during the pandemic was unavailable to many students, particularly those with low income and those living in rural areas (Lederman, 2020). As educational technology continues to evolve and institutions continue to expand their online course offerings

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Figure 1.

The Higher Education Rulemaking Process (Source: Natow, 2017)

Higher Education Act (authorizing statute)

Decision to Commence Rulemaking

Office of Management & Budget Review (if applicable)

Negotiated Rulemaking (if Title IV reg)

Regional Meetings (if Title IV reg)

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Figure 2.

Percentage of Federal Register Pages on Which Each Factor Was Cited Across All Five Studied Regulations (Source: Natow, 2020b)

contains an additional step called negotiated rulemaking, where the Department of Education meets with a wide range of stakeholder groups to develop a proposal of regulatory language (Natow, 2017).

My study analyzed how the federal government and higher education interest groups used research in the rulemaking process to create five prominent higher education regulations.

Figure 2 depicts the percentage of Federal Register pages across all five of

My study’s findings are indicative of a larger challenge for university researchers in education and other fields: Researchers’ work does not frequently reach policymakers and, when it does, policymakers often use research to bolster their political

70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Research

Statistics

Beliefs

I recently conducted a study of how research is used in this policymaking process, through which the United States Department of Education creates regulations of higher education (see Natow, 2020a, 2020b). As Figure 1 shows, rulemaking is a multi-step process whereby a proposed regulation goes through several stages of public inspection, stakeholder input, Office of Management and Budget review, and revision before becoming finalized and published in the Federal Register.

Often, higher education rulemaking 6

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Final Rule

my study’s regulations on which research was cited, as well as on which factors other than research were cited.

As shown in Figure 2, my study found that educational research has been utilized in this process relatively less often than several other factors. My study also found that when research was cited by policymakers in this process, it was more often research published by the government or nonprofit organizations than academic research published in peer-reviewed journals (Natow, 2020b). Regarding the purposes for which research has been introduced into higher education rulemaking, my study found that more often than any other purpose, research was offered to support the policy argument of the person citing the research (Natow, 2020a). This is known as the “political use” of research, in which a policy actor hails particular research because it favors the actor’s preferred policy and disregards other research simply because it does not (Ness, 2010; Nutley et al., 2007; Weiss et al., 2005).

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0

Notice & Comment Phase

Experience

Examples

Law

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arguments rather than to find the most effective approach for solving a problem (Ness, 2010; Nutley et al., 2007; Weiss et al., 2005).

Diminishing Financial Resources for Higher Education The COVID-19 pandemic has left the higher education sector in economic turmoil. Enrollment declines due to the pandemic have resulted in revenue shortfalls for higher education institutions across the United States, with some of the steepest declines experienced by community colleges (Kelderman, 2020). The budgets of public institutions are likely to face further revenue shortages due to expected declines in appropriations from cash-strapped state governments (Doyle, 2020). Institutions refunded much of students’ room and board payments and also lost income from not hosting conferences, summer camps, sporting contests, and other on-campus activities for most of 2020 (Whitford, 2020).

The financial prospects for higher education became so dire during the pandemic that higher education interest groups lobbied Congress for a financial stimulus in the amount of $120 billion, noting that even this amount would be insufficient to cover the losses higher education has endured (Mitchell, 2020). Although the federal government has provided coronavirus-related stimulus funding for higher education, these funds have fallen well short of the amount higher education institutions would need to recoup much of what was lost during the pandemic (McPherson, 2021).

Potential Policy Solutions Although higher education faces substantial challenges, there are ways that public policy can help

the sector face these challenges and hold brighter prospects for the future. Indeed, given the important role higher education plays in society and the financial and social benefits that accrue from a college education (Ma et al., 2019; Mayhew et al., 2016), policymakers should prioritize the needs of the sector and craft effective public policy solutions at this critical moment in U.S. history. There are a number of specific steps policymakers can take that would promote the recovery of higher education and enable institutions to continue serving their students and communities. Some such steps are summarized in Table 1 and explained more fully in the paragraphs that follow.

To address challenges with educational technology, policymakers can seek to provide broader access to the internet and technologies students need to

access online coursework and complete institutional requirements. Congress recently provided funding to assist some higher education institutions and low-income households with the cost of internet connectivity, but much of this was temporary, pandemic-related emergency funding (Palmer & Whistle, 2021). Additional government support to further expand access to technology can help close higher education’s “digital divide” (Whistle & West, 2020). Moreover, policymakers should award competitive grants for institutions to use educational technologies in innovative ways and – importantly – to train students and staff in how to use those technologies effectively.

A policy that would address the two challenges of using ed tech and underutilization of educational research

Table 1 Potential Public Policy Solutions for Current Challenges Facing Higher Education Challenge

Potential Policy Solutions

Difficulties Using Educational Technologies

• Expand broadband access.

• Award grants for institutions to use educational technologies in innovative ways.

• Award grants for institutions to train students, faculty, and staff in the effective utilization of educational technology.

• Incentivize colleges and universities to employ technologies and uses of technology that research has found to be effective at improving student outcomes.

Underutilization of Educational Research

• Incentivize colleges and universities to employ technologies and uses of technology that research has found to be effective at improving student outcomes.

• Involve university researchers directly in policymaking processes.

Diminishing Financial Resources for Higher Education

• Increase need-based student financial aid.

• Invest more funding in higher education.

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Although the federal government has provided coronavirus-related stimulus funding for higher education, these funds have fallen well short of the amount higher education institutions would need to recoup much of what was lost during the pandemic.

would be to incentivize colleges and universities to employ technologies and uses of technology that research has found to be effective at improving student outcomes. Another way to increase utilization of educational research would be to include researchers in policymaking processes, such as by inviting researchers to participate in the negotiated rulemaking process and other aspects of the Department of Education’s rulemaking process explained above (Natow, 2020b). Increasing need-based student financial aid, such as the federal Pell Grant and similar programs at the state level, can increase enrollments and equity in higher education (see, for example, Perna & Kurban, 2013).

Finally, government at all levels should invest more funding in higher education. This is something advocates have argued for decades, but it is critically important in the current

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moment. As Dr. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education and former under secretary of education, wrote to congressional leadership in September 2020, colleges and universities play an important role in producing regional economic growth. Thus, financial support of higher education would meaningfully contribute to stimulating the economy in the era of post-pandemic recession and economic uncertainty (Mitchell, 2020). Policies such as these would help higher education overcome some of its most difficult current challenges, and by extension, provide valuable economic and educational benefits to their students and surrounding communities.

students via self-paced interactive electronic learning tutorials for introductory physics. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 13(1), 010127.

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Rebecca Natow is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at Hofstra University. She is an expert on higher education policy and has conducted research on performance-based funding for higher education, technology use in postsecondary developmental education, and research utilization in the creation of federal regulations. Her research and teaching focus on higher education law and policy, federal education policy processes, qualitative research methods, and higher education leadership.

Dr. Natow holds an EdD, EdM, and MA in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

She is author of Higher Education Rulemaking: The Politics of Creating Regulatory Policy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017), as well as numerous scholarly articles, commentaries, and research reports.

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