Dive Brief:
- A growing number of state governments are responding to critics of the humanities, funneling more money to public higher education institutions that are producing graduates with high-demand degrees.
- The New York Times reports at least 15 states have such a formula, and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin joined the fray last month by saying students in majors like French literature should not get taxpayer subsidies for their educations like engineers.
- While Bevin told the Kentucky General Assembly that public tax dollars toward higher education should result in work-ready graduates, there is no telling what skills the workforce will need in 15 years, and many employers ask for soft skills that traditionally come with a liberal arts degree.
Dive Insight:
The focus on STEM careers that ostensibly set college graduates up to make a lot of money is dangerous for higher education. The Obama administration’s College Scorecard highlights average earnings of college graduates, joining a number of monetary return-on-investment oriented ranking systems, like Payscale’s.
As Congress considers the Higher Education Act and the accountability measures that should join accreditation reform, there is a push to offer an alternative to the earnings, hard-skills focus. The outgoing president of the American Association of Colleges & Universities, Carol Geary Schneider, urged members and their accrediting bodies to develop a consensus around learning outcomes that take more than future earnings into account.