Mississippi universities face tough times as political forces led by President Donald Trump align against traditional higher education.
“After years of shuffling Americans through an economically unproductive postsecondary system, President Trump will refocus young Americans on career preparation,” read an April White House fact sheet on the order uplifting workforce training. A second slammed accrediting agencies’ practices that have “diverted focus from student success to ideological conformity, undermining academic integrity and student achievement,” read the second April fact sheet. A Reuters analysis reported the orders tilt “U.S. government agencies away from overwhelming support for the professional jobs that colleges and universities prepare workers for, and toward backing skilled trades, like electricians, machinists and nursing assistants.” Already in Mississippi, Accelerate Mississippi has begun to strongly emphasize credentials and workforce training. State Auditor Shad White has called for state funding to be eliminated for “useless degrees" in “garbage fields.” Two other changes epitomize a growing national effort to focus more on skill-based training and less on university degrees. First, the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” as currently written would reduce Pell Grant benefits for “more than half” of college recipients, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. Nearly 80,000 Mississippi students received Pell Grants last year according to Mississippi Today. They represent a major revenue source for Mississippi universities.
Second, the bill would expand access to Pell Grants for lower cost workforce training. “The workforce Pell,” reported Inside Higher Education, “would extend eligibility for the federal financial aid grant to students enrolled in short-term credential programs.” Other proposals in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” along with parallel actions by the Trump administration would reduce university revenues, increase costs, force students to pay more while restricting their ability to borrow, and incentivize students to pursue less costly options for further education. Mississippi universities, particularly Mississippi State and Ole Miss, receive significant federal research and development grants. These funds help cover university overhead costs, pay faculty, and attract graduate students. The administration has begun cutting such grants and ratcheting down overhead reimbursements (actions now being challenged in federal courts). Grants targeting smaller institutions like the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 are also at risk. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” would cap loans for professional degrees, reduce the Federal Work-Study program, and eliminate Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Meanwhile, the administration has begun implementing restrictions on federal student loans that would force students to pay more for harder to get student loans. Should the bill pass in its current form and the courts free up administrative orders, times will indeed be changing for our universities. And this looks to be just the beginning. “There is … a time to tear down” – Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 3. Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.
17 comments:
That’s a good start
Pell grant students in MS have a lower graduation rate by 20% than non- Pell grant recipients . Some do not complete the first semester even at a junior college but that figure is not published.
Only 45% of MS student receive a Pell grant. But one MS paper reported that would affect 80000 Mississippians.
The Junior Colleges , which do teach trade skills as well and do grant 2 year nursing degrees, will be affected.
The children of wealthy people do not need financial aid for college and one could argue that it is the GI Bill after WWII that helped the U.S. become an economic success story.
Neither Pell grants nor the G.I. bill has kept up/mirrored the increased costs of higher education.
Higher Education is big business. I don't know about other states, but this state has given nothing more than lip service to Career and Technical Education programs for the past fifty years or more. Such programs should be mandated within five miles of every school district in the state and well funded.
Nobody at the legislative level wants to gore the ox of our land grant colleges. Rather the emphasis is on building larger stadiums, enriching name/image/likeness programs and broadening the employment offices and grant recipients they've become.
Jill Ford ran and was elected partly based on her deep interest on educating our students for advancement in 'the trades' and her promises to shepherd that emphasis when elected. Well, that was the last we heard of that.
Every governor and most legislators are quick to salute the value of career tech, and then we hear little more about it. Since the mid sixties, Mississippi has had twenty or more multi-million dollar federal-state programs directed at occupational training. Private efforts have had little if any success.
We've been great at arguing over who will have the lead role...Employment Security, Community Colleges, The Governor's Office of Job Development & Training, the Planning & Development Districts, Community Organizations, even disbarred lawyers promising rainbows and unicorns. Nothing resulted from the latter and very little from the former.
What comes next? Nothing but more articles on the subject from Salter, the State Auditor and Crawford. That's what.
" force students to pay more while restricting their ability to borrow, and incentivize students to pursue less costly options for further education"
Crawford wrote that as if it was a bad thing. Where has he been that he hasn't heard of the student loan problems of so many? Starting on your own is a large enough difficulty without the burden of student debt.
Crawford likes to add Bible scriptures, for what reason I don't know, here's one he should look in to: Proverbs 22: 7; The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
9:09 laments the fact Pell Grant recipients have a low graduation rate and many complete only a semester, if that. Wonder why?
They're like SNAP. They're free. Why not. Head on down to JSU or Valley or Coahoma or Alcorn or DSU and enjoy the scenery. You ain't never been out of town before anyway. Give it a try. Drop and head back home and be riding a bicycle into town in four more years. Encouragement and expectations begin at home.
“ The “One Big Beautiful Bill” would cap loans for professional degrees, reduce the Federal Work-Study program, and eliminate Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Meanwhile, the administration has begun implementing restrictions on federal student loans that would force students to pay more for harder to get student loans.”
Every bit of this is true. If you are low to middle class and you have kids that dream of med school, PA, nurse practitioner, CRNA or law school, those dreams are now out of reach thanks to this bill. Loans are capped at $250k, and that includes undergrad, and for parents co-signing that number is across all kids. Now I know what y’all are thinking, $250k is an obscene amount of money, and it is, but it’s a drop in the bucket of what med, dental and law school costs. CRNA and PA school are $50-100k a year. Y’all do the math and think about where this ends. At some point the only people pursuing those degrees will be the kids of the wealthy and well-funded, who may not be as qualified as the hardworking low and middle class kids. This bill has good intentions in trying to rein in those that abuse the system, but the way it was written it will protect the bankers at the expense of smart, driven and hardworking students from middle class families.
I paid the overwhelming majority of my education costs by applying for every single scholarship I could find online. They all required me to write a paper. This was about 10 years before CoPilot/Grok/CharGPT. it took about a month of my time each semester. But it was worth my time when I varely had to borrow anything. And the university had a website where you just scroll through all these thousands of scholarships. It was ridiculously easy then. It is stupid to not take advantage of it now with LLMs
History and poli sci should both be abolished. Absolutely useless degrees. I have both
My longtime appliance repair guy recently retired. I’m looking for a new plumber, due to retirement. Eventually I’m sure I’ll need an electrician. I’ve long wondered who will fill those jobs. We need vocational training and apprenticeships for those and other skills. College isn’t for everyone.
Colleges and universities need students who want to put in the work needed to earn a degree in their chosen academic fields. First-generation college students who come from backgrounds of little means and persist to graduation are my favorite success stories. If those earned their degree thanks to financial aid with a Pell Grant then I consider that a positive use of my taxpayer dollars.
I own a business where we routinely deal with college students. I ask them what their major is and it can range from useful to fanciful. We had a guy come in last night, never went to college, currently works for a tree service, owns his own house and has zero debt. I know MCGCC has plenty of career certificates and they say they are VERY busy with 24+ year olds wanting to get a job (good wage with zero debt) vs. a career (good wage but debt to get it the door, plus always worried the career may end though no fault of their own). Maybe college isn't for everyone.
Jill Ford's son is a plumber. I'd say Jill Ford has a vested interest in elevating trades.
10:12 makes the mistake of using logic with Crawford. Crawford has little interest in logic or facts. Bill is all about advancing the narrative.
I think 10:43 is making a case to pass the "big beautiful bill." What he says is bad about the bill sound like good ideas.
Let's make MSU, OM, USM, ASU, JSU stand behind the loans for the money they receive. That's right, pledge their endowment as security for all the student loans. Why should we back the loans when they get the money?
Every time I see a medical professional, I try to make sure and say thank you for the contribution you all make to society. So, thank God for universities and higher education since without it, we would not have health care professionals, or engineers, etc. for that matter.
But universities have been highjacked by radical leftist professor intellectuals; and therein lies a major problem (link below “Why Intellectuals are _______ Idiots” can explain).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqs8D3xfxsc&t=20s
Another is the incredible fact that universities have scammed many of the young and naïve into obtaining students loans that haunt them for decades afterwards in order to obtain worthless degrees.
The fact that so-called “educators” are not mathematically capable enough to know whether or not certain degrees will be investments that are worthy of student loans – or they know better but are scamming students for profit, tells us what we need to know about that.
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 1 Thessalonians 4:6
10:18 In the long run it will only serve to further fortify the positions of the rich and the growing underclass. Those institutions who have enjoyed years of the fruits of unfair and often discriminatory state support are now rich and powerful enough to withstand this shakeup and emerge more dominant than ever. That's part of the plan anyway. After the shakeout the weaker sisters will be greatly diminished or gone completely and business as usual will resume. The rich will be that much richer.
The world needs more plumbers and electricians and fewer blue haired baristas.
Post a Comment