The Redgate Read On Online Learning

Many students, campus and online, utilize federal financial aid to help pay for their education.  There has also been a resurgence of discussion surround federal aid due to the President’s stimulus plan and several recent personnel appointments at the Department of Education. 

Personally, when I was going through school, I was the recepient of federal aid and I could not have attended otherwise.  I have also helped several of my children apply.   Although the process seems fairly daunting, to the well informed student should be fairly straightforward.  I have identified eight milestones that every student who is applying for financial aid should be aware of:

1.  Get a Federal Pin.

2. Completion of the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

3.  Completing other aid applications.

4.  Complete the federal verification process, if required.

5.  Obtain loan assistance.

6.  Determine your financial aid package

7.  Complete any financial check in your school requires

8.  Expect payments or disbursements to your account.

National political correspondent and author, Juan Williams, is the keynote speaker at Chancellor University’s 160th graduation taking place Saturday, May 2, 2009. As senior correspondent for NPR’s Morning Edition, host of America’s Black Forum, a nationally syndicated weekly news program, and regular panelist on FoxNews Sunday, Williams is at the cutting edge of America’s culture and politics. In addition to prize-winning columns and editorial writing for The Washington Post, he has also authored six books.

Prior to writing bestsellers, Williams was a political columnist and national correspondent for The Washington Post. In a 21-year career at The Post he served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, and White House correspondent. He won several journalism awards for his writing and investigative reporting. He also won an Emmy Award for TV documentary writing. He was given widespread, critical acclaim for a series of documentaries including Politics-The New Black Power. His documentary on A. Phillip Randolph was featured on PBS. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, and The New Republic.

The Commencement is being held at the Masonic Auditorium and Performing Arts Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Online students who desire to accelerate their studies are potentially eligible for additional Pell Grant funding in 2009-2010.  In prior years, Pell Grant recipients attending year-round had to allocate their award over either two terms at 50%, without an award for the third enrollment period, or in each of three terms at 33% each.  A recent change in federal law allows an eligible student to receive 50% of their annual award in each of three terms occurring within a single award year.  For example, a full-time student previously eligible for $3,000 annually could receive $1,500 in fall, $1,500 in spring, and 0 in summer or $1,000 for each of the three terms.  Beginning July 1, 2009, that same eligible student can receive $1,500 in each of the three terms, or $4,500 for the award year.  At least half-time enrollment is required and awards for less than full-time enrollment are pro-rated.

 

With the online education space becoming larger and more accepted in the mainstream, there is a growing list of hot topics that that those of us in this industry must face.  Here are some of what I consider to be the most critical:

• Economic Influence — Although the President’s Economic Stimulus Bill will not restrict non profit and market funded education, it’s specific provisions are not a huge help.  The online education industry has been helped by what I call an economic “tailwind” in recent months but the question is how much longer will that tailwind blow?  This vertical is somewhat acyclical so we will just have to play this one out.
• Student Funding — The Fed is stable, but private lenders are in flux.  As of the first of this year, 38 companies had suspended private student loans and the remaining have tightened credit standards.  However, the Stimulus Bill should allow students viable Title IV funding options for financing their education.
• Student Recruiting Costs — In the online, market funded space, much attention is given to student acquisition, enrollment, and start costs.  From 2002 - 2007, student acquisition costs rose about 100 bps per year.  We will probably see a leveling off of these costs as advertising demand weakens and Internet recruiting increases.  It is also critical in controlling costs that enrollment management personnel become smarter and deploy more robust reporting.
• Pricing –  Tuition costs for online universities have increased moderately but nothing like their traditional counterparts.  Is it possible that there might be significant tuition increases in the future?  It is possible.  I know at Chancellor University that we made a recent decision to reduce tuition to make our programs more affordable during these tough economic times.  As other universities have been increasing tuition and slashing programs, and with the cost of living rising, we wanted to limit, as much as possible, the financial burden of earning a degree, all the while improving our services.
• Default Rates — I attended a recent Credit Suisse conference in Phoenix where “default rates” was the hot topic.  The fear is that with an economy in turmoil, we might see an upward trend in cohort default rates.  Certainly we have seen a downward trend since the early 1990’s, but there are storm clouds on the horizon.