Dive Brief:
- Hillary Clinton’s higher education plan, released Monday, insinuates that online learning programs as a whole lack integrity, offending industry leaders and making them question her familiarity with the market.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that the plan says, “We must bring integrity to online learning,” as though that sector of the higher education market is the one plagued with quality issues.
- While it can be assumed that the presidential candidate is referring to bad actors among for-profit online learning institutions, the reality is that public colleges and universities offer distance learning options to a growing majority of students who choose to study online.
Dive Insight:
The piece of Clinton’s sprawling higher education proposal that has gotten the most attention this week is her ambitious plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest income earners and funnel that money into debt-free public education. While she says online learning needs integrity, she also supports funding innovative alternative education options like coding bootcamps.
Inside Higher Ed reports that Clinton spoke about the limited ability of online education last year, saying there is “no substitute for the kind of learning that takes place in a well-taught classroom.” Like the focus on improving quality and regulating behavior among for-profit institutions to the exclusion of other types, it can be argued that Clinton’s skepticism over online versus in-person learning misses the fact that quality issues are not unique to individual sectors.