As mission statements become highly generalized, they provide diminishing guidance for allocating resources, defining target student populations or evaluating program and institutional performance.
Programs would be developed jointly by the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Supporters say the change would help students earn degrees closer to home while balancing work and family.
College students who work while in school are more than twice as likely to land a job after graduation, a ZipRecruiter survey found. Work experience also helps graduates secure jobs more quickly in a competitive market.
Programs that routinely fail to provide students with a positive ROI—or return on investment—would lose access to federal student loans and, in certain cases, Pell Grants, according to the Department of Education.
Colleges are feeling the pressure to innovate their credentials. Quality and innovation can coexist as colleges work quickly to reshape degrees, a major accreditor says.
