Federal Audit Challenges Faculty Role at WGU

[Kirsten]

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017...on-federal

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General has released the results of a much anticipated high-stakes audit of Western Governors University, with negative findings that could threaten the large online university and, more broadly, the growing field of competency-based education.
Citing concerns about an inadequate faculty role -- which the competency-based university contests -- the inspector general called for the department to make WGU pay back at least $713 million in federal financial aid.
The final audit report, issued today, also said the nonprofit university, which enrolls 83,000 students, should be ineligible to receive any more federal aid payments.

[sanantone]

There is practically no faculty, but if they were approved to receive financial aid, then they shouldn't have to pay it back. It's no secret that there's virtually no teaching in competency-based programs.

[jsd]

WGU's spin makes it appear that the OIG is making a recommendation without ability to enforce, based on an outdated 1997 law that the DoE is unlikely to accept. We'll see how it actually ends up playing out.


https://www.wgu.edu/oig-audit-report

[lismith]

This concerns me a lot because I'm planning to start WGU in a couple of months, currently taking as many Straighterline courses as I can to save time & money. This doesn't reflect well on WGU and even if nothing comes of it, their reputation will be hurt.

It's unfortunate too because I've heard such great things about their IT programs. Graduating with a Bachelors in IT plus a dozen industry certifications is very appealing to me but now I worry their degree won't be respected. Is TESC a good alternative? I already have several courses at Straighterline complete, want to make sure those will be accepted wherever I end up going.

[Thorne]

This concerns me a lot because I'm planning to start WGU in a couple of months, currently taking as many Straighterline courses as I can to save time & money. This doesn't reflect well on WGU and even if nothing comes of it, their reputation will be hurt.

It's unfortunate too because I've heard such great things about their IT programs. Graduating with a Bachelors in IT plus a dozen industry certifications is very appealing to me but now I worry their degree won't be respected. Is TESC a good alternative? I already have several courses at Straighterline complete, want to make sure those will be accepted wherever I end up going.

It shouldn't be an issue. IT really wants experience + certs more than they want a degree, and a degree is often just a checkbox. I would hold off to see if they are required to pay all of that back, because it could cause some turmoil. If it blows over without any financial issues, you're probably safe to start.

TESU is a decent second option, but most people here go for the TESU BSBA or BALS, rather than something in a technical field.

Edit: Removed an untrue statement per JSD below.

[jsd]

This concerns me a lot because I'm planning to start WGU in a couple of months, currently taking as many Straighterline courses as I can to save time & money. This doesn't reflect well on WGU and even if nothing comes of it, their reputation will be hurt.

It's unfortunate too because I've heard such great things about their IT programs. Graduating with a Bachelors in IT plus a dozen industry certifications is very appealing to me but now I worry their degree won't be respected. Is TESC a good alternative? I already have several courses at Straighterline complete, want to make sure those will be accepted wherever I end up going.

Their reputation won't be hurt because pretty much no one will ever hear of it (unless the DoE actually takes the OIG's rec seriously, which doesn't seem likely).

Regardless of the outcome, their accreditation isn't in jeopardy, and most employers aren't keeping up to date on DoE news anyway. And as has been pointed out, by Thorne, in the IT world, experience is king, not the degree.

(FYI, to Thorne's suggetsion, Patten doesn't offer technical degrees, but they do have an MBA with IT concentration)

[sanantone]

This concerns me a lot because I'm planning to start WGU in a couple of months, currently taking as many Straighterline courses as I can to save time & money. This doesn't reflect well on WGU and even if nothing comes of it, their reputation will be hurt.

It's unfortunate too because I've heard such great things about their IT programs. Graduating with a Bachelors in IT plus a dozen industry certifications is very appealing to me but now I worry their degree won't be respected. Is TESC a good alternative? I already have several courses at Straighterline complete, want to make sure those will be accepted wherever I end up going.

A lot of accredited schools don't even participate in financial aid, and many schools that do participate offer correspondence courses that don't qualify for financial aid. Even if WGU were to lose its approval for financial aid, they would still be accredited. They won't be in business if they have to pay back 713 million and can't switch over to a Patten model, but as JSD said, the OIG doesn't have the power to enforce this. I don't think Devos will enforce this.

By the way, if Obama can pilot a financial aid program for CBEs and PLAs, then the Trump administration could easily approve financial aid for correspondence courses.

[bluebooger]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grad...niversity/

[dfrecore]

Nice article. I love that "Its postgraduate earnings are above average and its student loan default rate is lower than average. An extensive intervention by Western Governor’s has reduced student loan borrowing by students five years in a row, even as the school’s enrollment has climbed. Western Governor’s is in good standing with its regional accreditor."

But that's not good enough for the government. Yeah, for all of the people who want MORE government intervention, I ask what could possibly make you think that they will do a good job at whatever it is you want them to do??? This kind of thing just infuriates me!!

[sanantone]

Nice article. I love that "Its postgraduate earnings are above average and its student loan default rate is lower than average. An extensive intervention by Western Governor’s has reduced student loan borrowing by students five years in a row, even as the school’s enrollment has climbed. Western Governor’s is in good standing with its regional accreditor."

But that's not good enough for the government. Yeah, for all of the people who want MORE government intervention, I ask what could possibly make you think that they will do a good job at whatever it is you want them to do??? This kind of thing just infuriates me!!

Er, I don't think this is a good argument for less government intervention. It's just one instance. Besides, these are just recommendations. To be honest, even though the law is outdated, WGU could have avoided all of this by not lying about the role of its student mentors.

There have been a lot more people hurt by this country's less than average intervention in higher education (a disproportionate amount of debt comes from for-profits that are accredited by private entities). Other developed nations have much simpler and cheaper higher education systems because they don't outsource everything. Financial aid, in and of itself, is government intervention. WGU is free to not participate in Title IV funding. If you're going to accept other people's money, then you have to follow their rules. That's just the way it is.

I don't have confidence in the government right now, but that's a different topic.