SLOs and Funding for Higher Education

Rethinking Higher Education Funding - Centering Student Learning

Core Issue: The current higher education funding model in the United States, which prioritizes metrics like completion rates and attendance, is fundamentally misaligned with the true purpose of education: fostering student learning and preparing them for real-world challenges.

Key Arguments:

• Disconnect Between Funding and Learning: The emphasis on superficial metrics incentivizes institutions to prioritize quotas over demonstrable learning outcomes. This "reduces education to a transactional process, stripping it of its transformative potential."
• Quote: "Faculty are pressured to 'pass' students to meet completion targets, while students are seen as mere contributors to apportionment."