Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
TheEdgeIcon.png

The Edge

The world is changing. Is higher ed ready to change with it? Senior Writer Scott Carlson helps you better understand higher ed’s accelerating evolution. Delivered every Thursday. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, sign up to receive it in your email inbox.

April 27, 2022
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email

From: Goldie Blumenstyk

Subject: The Edge: Better Ways to Hold Colleges Accountable

I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle covering innovation in and around higher ed.

Each week I share my latest thinking on the people and ideas reshaping the sector, alternating between my own reporting and my picks for thought-provoking and useful stories and resources out there. I also mix in some quick takes and occasional contributions from my colleagues.

This week, I’m taking some time off, hence a shorter-than-usual newsletter. But below I highlight some ideas readers shared with me for new ways to track accountability for colleges.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle covering innovation in and around higher ed.

Each week I share my latest thinking on the people and ideas reshaping the sector, alternating between my own reporting and my picks for thought-provoking and useful stories and resources out there. I also mix in some quick takes and occasional contributions from my colleagues.

This week I’m taking some time off, hence a shorter-than-usual newsletter. But below I highlight some ideas readers shared with me for new ways to track accountability for colleges.

How (else) to keep colleges accountable.

The pause on repaying federal student loans, as I reported two weeks ago, has skewed one of the few universal accountability metrics the government has. To be honest, that measure, the cohort default rate, has never been that useful anyway. So now seems like a good time to discuss what might work better.

I asked for your ideas and saw particular promise in two responses: one that calls for more transparency from colleges about costs, the other a reminder of the merits of keeping colleges on the hook for some of the money their students borrow.

The transparency idea came from Jeff Arthur, vice president for regulatory affairs and chief information officer at the for-profit ECPI University. The government’s approach to protecting students and ensuring educational quality “should be about leveraging emerging data to create a framework that will drive competitive institutions to improve,” he wrote in an email. “Accountability no longer needs to be institutional,” he said. It can also be monitored program by program.

The U.S. Department of Education already administers regulations that require all colleges to disclose a ton of information about their programs. Tweak those rules, Arthur says, to make colleges also disclose how long students took to complete the programs and the total cost associated with that time. And while they’re at it, he argues, colleges should share students’ median debt levels and postgraduate salaries by program. “It is not a stretch,” he said, “to produce this information.”

As it so happens, the Education Department is weighing changes to those disclosure requirements right now. But Arthur thinks the proposals will fall short of what’s possible and useful, in part because of objections from colleges.

I’m sympathetic to one potential objection: that some undergraduate programs that aren’t directly career-related probably shouldn’t be judged by earnings outcomes. But what I like about Arthur’s idea is that it reflects more of the reality for today’s students, many of whom don’t complete their degrees in four years. Meaning, the costs colleges disclose aren’t always representative. Arthur’s approach could help rectify that.

That said, I know: So-called transparency and disclosure aren’t the same as actually holding institutions responsible for outcomes. That’s why I also appreciated the colleges’ having “skin -in the game” suggestion from Perry S. Akins, chairman of iTEP International, a testing company. Since colleges “profit” from the money students borrow, he said, they should also bear some responsibility for that debt. That idea gets batted around a lot in policy circles.

Maybe its time has come.

Meanwhile, I’ll be back in your inboxes with more next week.

Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know, at goldie@chronicle.com. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past issues, find them here. To receive your own copy, free, register here. If you want to follow me on Twitter, @GoldieStandard is my handle.

Goldie’s Weekly Picks

Aerial shot of the campus of Ilisagvik College in Utqiagvik, Alaska, is seen at dawn of the first light after winter.
Tribal Colleges
The Cost of Connection
By Katherine Mangan
The internet is a lifeline for students on far-flung tribal campuses. Too often, they’re priced out of learning.
illustration of an anonymous male president surrounded by blue university building and red capitol building
Leadership
One of Higher Ed’s Hardest Jobs Is Getting Tougher. Blame Political Interference.
By Lee Gardner
University-system leaders must navigate America’s most divisive period in half a century.
hand erasing the word teaching on a chalkboard
Politics in the Classroom
Education Professors React to Divisive-Concept Laws
By Adrienne Lu
The actions typically apply to elementary and secondary schools. But at least one group of faculty members has felt a direct impact.
Tags
Leadership & Governance Innovation & Transformation Finance & Operations Law & Policy
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
The Death of Shared Governance
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

Illustration of an ocean tide shaped like Donald Trump about to wash away sandcastles shaped like a college campus.
The Review | Essay
Why Universities Are So Powerless in Their Fight Against Trump
By Jason Owen-Smith
Photo-based illustration of a closeup of a pencil meshed with a circuit bosrd
The Review | Essay
How Are Students Really Using AI?
By Derek O'Connell
John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin