What if we empowered the tens of thousands of college trustees who govern our nation’s colleges and universities with the information they needed to be champions of college affordability at their institutions? What if college presidents and trustees shared a vision and worked together on plans to increase the value of higher education by reducing costs while maintaining quality for students?
At a time in our nation’s history when questions of equity are reshaping policy, what if higher education leaders contributed to this cause by prioritizing the financial well-being of underrepresented students? And how would this shared vision of higher education leadership focused on affordability and equity be realized in a post-COVID-19 world?
Thanks to the ECMC Foundation and the Michelson 20MM Foundation, Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust will take the first steps in making this vision of empowered trustees a reality.
We start by documenting the best practices in a landscape study of institutions or systems that have experienced some success, whether on a small or large scale, in making college more affordable in measurable ways particularly for underrepresented students.
Then we will conduct a handful of case studies to dig deeper and answer important questions, including: What role did governing board members play in bringing about the desired change? How did they collaborate with college presidents and administrators to bring about success? What data did they use to aid their decision making? Finally, we’ll conduct a national survey of trustees to find out how prepared they are for implementing changes that lead to more affordability.
And when we’re done, we’re going to work with our organizational collaborators to tell the nation’s higher education leaders what was learned and inspire a curiosity for importing best practices to institutions across this country.
For additional information, see FAQ section below.