Last Friday, the Washington State Senate voted to lower the standards of our colleges and universities to a standard that is shocking.
These votes were not based on the need to control the bidgets. They actually add to the costs of higher education in the State.
As a result of these votes, I would now recommend that
- No one send their children to a Washington high schools without demanding to see the credentials of its teachers.
- Any claims by the State to be graduating people with Bachelors and advanced degrees be treated as hogwash.
- Businesses considering moving to Washington State ask whether the downgraded higher ed system will support their needs.
- The UW now must choose between becoming a private university in the State of Washington or downgrading itself and depriving Washington of a having a top ranked research university.
I refer to two votes:
- They made Western Governors University (WGU) a Washington State University
- The created a branch campus of Washington State University in Everett.
Here are a few facts:
- WGU now has the authority to certify high school teachers in math, biology, writing, physics and chemistry. WGU does not meet the minimal criteria needed to prepare teachers to teach these subjects!
- Funds needed to maintain excellence at Washington State University, will now be diverted to Everett, lowering opportunities in Pullman.
- Washington state students will now pay twice as much to attend the low ranked WGU as they would to attend highly ranked Washington State community colleges.
- Though WGU claims to offer BA,MS, MBA, and MS degrees, the course work at WGU does not meet our community college standards.
- State funds will now go to a ‘public university’ that claims not to have to disclose how it spends its $120,000,000 income.
I have written a lot about WGU and want now to summarize all that as we look forward to the effect these two moves will have on our future. I am going to do this in two parts. The first will examine WGU’s claim to be “non profit” and the second will ask whether the WGU “model” is efficient:
Part I. Is WGU “non-profit?”
From all that I have read the answer is yes. However, I suspect that most people do not understand what non profit means. The bottom line is that non profit is a term that allows a company to avoid paying taxes because the company is not supposed to accumulate wealth for its owners. Non profit does not mean that the founders of a company can not make money.
Let me use an example, a non profit K-12 school I will call Seattle International School.
Some years ago friends of ours, disgusted with the restrictions of public schools, decided to start their own non profit K-12. Our friends were very successful. With excellent teaching, high standards, the ability to focus on high achieving students, their school was a huge success. For now, and for the sake of anonymity, I will call this school Seattle International School, or SIS.
Over the years SIS has become a great school. Besides making its own way from tuition, the gratitude of affluent parents has given SIS the beginnings of a real endowment. That endowment, itself not taxed, also allows SIS to use pubic bonds to finance its growth. These bonds too are tax free, Some of this wealth is used to bring in talented though underprivileged students.
My friends , with help from their non profit status, have done a good thing.
How the founders of SIS benefited.
My friends have also benefited. Though they do not “own” SIS, as founders they have received good salaries and other benefits, including housing and travel … all financed with tax free dollars. As officers of a visible success story, they were able to build other contacts that promoted their careers.
Not a bad deal! The wrinkle of course is the potential for abuse. There is no legal limit on how much a non profit can pay its officers and employees. Nor is there any limit on the ability of a private non profit to direct work to profit making firms that may themselves be owned by the founders. Abuses of this sort are often reported in the news and the salaries of non profit CEOs are often as higher or higher than their peers in the profit making world.
What are WGU administrators paid?
Certainly, the $700,o00 salary of Robert Mendenhall catches my eye. I would also very much like to know the salaries WGU pays to its other leaders, especially to the chancellor for the new, apparently “state” version of WGU authorized in Indiana. WGUI was authorized by an executive order of the governor, Mitch Daniels (R). Mr. Daniels, by the way, is a board member of WGU and may also be getting a salary.
The chancellor for Indiana’s new state university, Allison Barber, is a public relations expert. Her previous job was a a political appointee in the Bush administration promoting the Iraq war. Ms. Barber has no experience or credentials in higher education or online education.
Does WGU abuse its non profit status?
What worries me is the extent of non disclosure . WGU .. including its new “state” university in Indiana , does not make its finances public. Simply put, WGU is bringing in $120,000,000 a year from federal or state aid to students.
WGU is earning $120,000,00 without a need for public accountability
Part II follows at 2:00 today: