Technical Assistance Workshop
July 26-27, 2006
Great Divide Lodge
Breckenridge, Colorado

PROGRAM AND PRESENTATIONS [DOWNLOAD PDF AGENDA ]

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

1.15 – 1.30 pm

Welcome, Introductions, and Meeting Overview

Cheryl Blanco, Senior Program Director, Policy Analysis and Research, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

David Longanecker, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

1.30 – 2.30 pm

Kentucky Handout

View From the States: A Status Report

Centennial Policymakers and stakeholders often learn the most about emerging issues, including what issues states are facing and strategies for tackling the inevitable challenges to problem resolution, through direct conversation with their colleagues from other states. As Changing Direction is drawing to an end, states from all three technical assistance cohorts will have an opportunity to share their experiences, perspectives, and progress on important issues related to the integration of higher education financial aid and financing policy.

Moderator: Julie Davis Bell, Education Group Director, National Conference of State Legislatures

2.30 – 3.45 pm

Policies in a Box: College Readiness, Access, and Success

As states search for ways to keep their public higher education institutions accessible and affordable, a variety of new and sometimes radical approaches to higher education finance are available for their consideration. Some of the approaches are as yet untested; others have longer histories. Their appeal is that they appear to be ready-made solutions to a particular problem or set of problems involving higher education. With so much pressure on states that are trying to deal with college readiness, access, and success in the face of rapidly shifting demographics and competing public priorities, states may be tempted to adopt a “policy-in-a-box” solution without careful consideration of its costs and benefits or how such an approach would best fit within the state’s unique context. Yet there exist few useful analyses that spell out the tradeoffs involved with such policy options, or that help a state consider a particular approach given the circumstances and conditions it faces. This session will include a discussion of policies in relation to states’ specific contexts and circumstances.

Speakers:

Cheryl Blanco, Senior Program Director, Policy Analysis and Research, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

Dennis Jones, President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

David Longanecker, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

4.00 – 5.00 pm

Increasing Retention in the Changing Direction States: An Open Discussion

This facilitated discussion is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to share their experiences, challenges, and solutions associated with increasing retention as part of their Changing Direction activities.

Facilitator: Linda Johnsrud, Vice President for Policy and Planning, University System of Hawaii

Thursday, July 27, 2006

8.00 – 9.00 am

Hodel Presentation

Maintaining Financial Access to Higher Education During All Economic Conditions

Just as states are beginning to recover economically, higher education must begin to prepare for the next recession. The traditional fiscal trend during a recession has been temporary state cuts for colleges and universities but increasing tuition to make up for the lost income, but the ebbs and flows are inevitable. This session will highlight the work of the Center for the Study of Education Policy that examines states’ student financial aid programs and strategies to maintain financial access to higher education during these often unpredictable times.

Moderator: Charles Lenth, Senior Associate, State Higher Education Executive Officers

Speakers:

Ross Hodel, Co-Director, Center for the Study of Education Policy, Illinois State University

Sheila Pruden, Student Financial Aid Policy Consultant, Illinois

9.00 – 9.45 am

Aligning State and Federal Policy: Effects on Appropriations, Financial Aid, and Tuition

State policymakers too often make piecemeal decisions about appropriations, financial aid, and tuition policy—resulting in a hodgepodge of disconnected policies that sometimes are in conflict. And federal policymaking rarely is created with state policy impacts in mind or vice versa. Through an interactive discussion, this session will explore the intersection between federal and state policy decisions using specific examples and how they can be better integrated to increase access.

Speakers:

David Longanecker, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

Travis Reindl, Director of State Policy Analysis and Assistant to the President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities

9.45 – 10.00 am

Closing Comments

Cheryl Blanco, Senior Program Director, Policy Analysis and Research, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

David Longanecker, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education