Running head: WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

What is Higher Education Policy?

Donna Carney
Georgia Southern University
Higher Education Policy
EDLD8435
Dr. Devon Jensen
December 14, 2011

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

What is Higher Education Policy?

The word policy has many definitions. One of Merriam-Websters definitions for
policy is, a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures
especially of a governmental body ("Policy," n.d.). Policy affects everything we do in our lives.
It affects the time you go to bed at night to what you cook for your family to eat. The word
policy may mean many different things to different people. To me it means, a set of rules
defining processes in an organization. In all of my work experiences, most of the organizations I
worked for had written policies and procedures. Many times the policies were not observed. I
have found policies are more often observed in state or federal governmental organizations.
Many organizations have their policies and procedures on their websites available for easy access
by their employees. In terms of higher education, I believe the definition of policy follows the
same guidelines as Merriam-Websters definition. According to Sherri Torjman, public policy
seeks to achieve a desired goal that is considered to be in the best interest of all members of
society (Torjman, 2005, p. 4). Torjman says public policy is a careful decision that offers
direction for addressing selected public concerns (Torjman, 2005).
Higher education refers to the post-secondary education that occurs after the high school
educational process ends. Higher education for students includes undergraduate and graduate
level work. Typically higher education consists of learning that is obtained from colleges,
universities, trade schools, and technical colleges ("Higher Education," 2011). Included in the
aspects of higher education are: teaching, applying work, research, and social service activities
of universities ("Higher Education," 2011). Institutions of higher education must have rules to
follow. These higher education rules fall into the category of higher education policy. I define
higher education policy as a decision that provides guidance for handling issues and day-to-day

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

activities that arise in an institution of higher education for faculty, staff, and students. Higher
education policy must be enforced in an institution of higher education or chaos will result with
students, faculty and staff.
We need higher education policy for different reasons. Higher education administrators,
faculty, and staff need policy in order to have rules and procedures to follow daily in their jobs.
If policies and procedures did not exist, the process of education would never be fulfilled. If no
policy existed, employees would constantly be asking the same questions over and over about
how to handle particular situations. Productivity would be greatly reduced due to repetitive
work. An employee would never know to whom questions should be directed regarding
particular tasks as they arose. It is very difficult to work in a place where the rules are constantly
changing. No one will be happy in an employment setting where the rules are never enforced.
In any case if an employee works in a place where rules are set in place, then the employee will
always know where he or she stands.
Higher education policy plays a very important part in the classroom. An instructor will
be able to maintain order in a classroom setting if the students are aware of the policies and
procedures that are in place. Students need to know there are practices that should be followed
when in an instructional setting. If a student has complaints, he or she should be able to easily
determine steps in filing grievances or the steps in getting issues resolved. By having policies
and procedures, an institution is able to display fairness to the entire student population.
Otherwise if there were no policies and procedures in place, there would be inequality for all the
students. Higher education institutions do not want unnecessary lawsuits filed against them for
accusations of inequality, age discrimination, or sex discrimination. Policy plays a very
important part in a students educational career. By having an established higher education

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

policy in place at institutions, a student will have a much better educational experience than he or
she would without it.
The troubling economic recession we are experiencing in 2011 makes it even more
necessary for higher educational institutions to have established policies. It is important for
colleges and universities to have established budgets for proper spending. Almost all institutions
have experienced major budget cuts in the last several years. Administrators, staff, and faculty at
my institution (Wiregrass Georgia Technical College) have not received pay increases in three
years. We must have budgets to follow and rules must be adhered to regarding spending and
budgetary allocations. An institution could have unnecessary spending if there were no budgets
in place. Unnecessary spending could endanger an institutions ability to continue providing
educational services to its students. As stated in the Wilson (2010) article, public institutions of
higher education have been operating in the same way for hundreds of years. Administrators of
institutions have to learn to think in terms of profitability for their schools; therefore, it is
important to use a budget.
Proper policies and procedures will make sure colleges and universities can stay ahead of
the curve to avoid any financial problems. Higher education policy is absolutely necessary to
keep colleges and universities operating profitably. By following institutional policies, the work
load can be properly shifted around to all employees so no one person is overworked and
overburdened. By using policy to shift the workload among instructors, students become the
benefactors of higher education policy. Many students are being turned away from public
colleges because of budget crunches and dealing with difficult bureaucracy (Wilson, 2010).
Inevitably because of higher education policy at public institutions, for-profit institutions are
benefiting in increasing numbers because of governmental red tape (Wilson, 2010). Higher

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

education policy can mean good things for students and it can also mean bad things for students.
One of the bad things about this policy is having to deal with the government and all the
regulations the federal and state government may impose.
Higher education policy also affects when classes are scheduled throughout the day.
Public institutions have highly structured class meeting times. Classes may meet at 9 a.m., 11
a.m., and at 3 p.m. (Wilson, 2010). Some schools prefer to use the block method with
scheduling which makes it easier for a student to fit a job and classwork into their schedule
(Wilson, 2010). Some private colleges and universities such as the University of Phoenix (UOP)
allow students to take one or two classes at a time over a five to nine week period (Wilson,
2010). Many students prefer attending classes through UOP because of their class scheduling
flexibility. Some students prefer the scheduling method employed by UOP because they feel less
discouraged and can stay on schedule for graduation (Wilson, 2010).
According to Wilson (2010), the University of Phoenix will add more classes if their
scheduled classes fill up. No one is ever turned away from UOP due to lack of class availability
(Wilson, 2010). Gregory M. St. L. OBrien, former president of Argosy University, stated that
public institutions are only concerned with faculty members, not students (Wilson, 2010). Many
public institutions are willing to adjust their class schedules due to instructor requests and the
instructors flexibility. Private institutions are happy to develop their courses and class schedules
around their students (Wilson, 2010).

Higher education policy is the key to all the events that

occur at public institutions of higher learning. Policy can make the students lives miserable or
bearable depending on how the policy is worded and administered.
Higher education policy also relates to parents of students at our colleges and universities
(Bastedo, 2005). Most parents contribute some (or all) financial resources to their childrens

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

education. Most parents want the financial resources spent for education to be used wisely by
the post-secondary institutions. Parents want to pay fair tuition rates and fees. A college
education is a major financial investment in a students life. The colleges and universities must
have policies and procedures established regarding the administration of funds. The established
policies must be observed.
Many students choose to live in the colleges and universities dormitories. Higher
education policy affects residence life. While our children are away at college, we expect these
institutions to have some responsibility regarding our childrens safety. Policies and procedures
are in place at institutions of higher education to protect students. The welfare of the students is
very important and institutions must offer protection to students living and studying on their
campuses. I do not know any parent who would feel secure sending a child away to college with
no rules in place to protect the students. Predators prey upon our children and young adults and
we must keep our children protected. Higher education policy may save our childrens lives if
the proper policies and procedures are followed at the students colleges and universities.
The field of higher education must have policy in place to accommodate demands to
improve quality and increase effectiveness (Bastedo, 2005). Parents do not want to send their
children to colleges and universities with poor track records regarding the type of education they
offer. Higher education institutions have departments of Institutional Effectiveness. Institutional
effectiveness function is to provide leadership, assistance, and support to the faculty and staff in
the process of evaluation and planning for accreditation, and accountability, while fulfilling the
colleges mission. Most institutional effectiveness departments are responsible for maintaining
the colleges and universities policies and procedures ("TCSG Accountability," n.d.). Institutional
effectiveness is an important part of the puzzle of higher education policy. The institutional

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

effectiveness department handles the accreditation process of an institution in the Technical

College System of Georgias institutions ("TCSG Accountability," n.d.).
We must have higher education policy in order to protect the taxpayers money. All
public, state institutions receive funding from their respective states. They may not receive as
much funding as in years past, but some funding is received. Post-secondary institutions must be
accountable to the taxpayers. Most public institutions receive allocations from their states
budget for capital projects which may include buildings, building improvements, and equipment.
Policy will help to preserve funds and make sure they are used effectively. Construction projects
for institutions of higher education are very important to our political representatives. Elections
may be won or lost depending upon the candidates position on a college or universitys capital
improvement wish list.
Higher education policy must be in place for our institutions if our institutions wish to
participate in federal governmental programs. The Federal Pell Grant is a need-based grant for
low-income undergraduate students to encourage access to postsecondary education ("Federal
Pell Grant," 2011). The Pell grant is awarded through participating institutions of higher
education to students who meet the requirements for the grant ("Federal Pell Grant," 2011). The
Pell grant is awarded to the students institution to use for educational expenses. If the student
does not use the entire Pell grant at his or her institution, the amount left over is refunded to the
student.
The college or university a student attends must be accredited to participate in the Pell
grant program ("Pell Grant Requirements," n.d.). To be accredited by the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools (SACS), an institution must comply with the standards in the Principles
of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement and with policies and procedures of the

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

Commission on Colleges ("SACS Accreditation," n.d.). There are other accrediting agencies in
the United States that are recognized by the Pell grant administrators. Approximately 5,400
postsecondary institutions participate in the Pell grant program ("Federal Pell Grant," 2011).
Therefore if an institution is accredited, then higher education policy must be established and
observed.
Higher education policy is a set of procedures that a post-secondary institution follows in
the normal operations of providing higher education training and services to its students. This
policy affects the faculty, staff, students, parents, communities, taxpayers, and governmental
institutions. Policy is used in the operations of a department. It is used in the administration of a
lesson plan in a classroom. Policy is absolutely necessary to acquire all the assets a postsecondary institution owns or wishes to acquire. Higher education policy is mandatory for
following the accreditation process. Policy is needed now more than ever in our institutions of
higher education due to the economic recession we are experiencing. Policy is needed for the
safety of students. Higher education policy can be quite confusing to people outside the field of
higher education. I do believe everyone understands the concept of a policy and procedure
manual. Higher education policy is simply a policy and procedure manual that is used in which
areas covered are for the best interest of students, faculty, staff, communities, taxpayers, and
governmental entities. As with any type of policy, some people will be affected negatively
(Torjman, 2005, p. 18). In short, any given policy represents the end result of a decision as to
how best to achieve a specific objective (Torjman, 2005, p. 4).

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY?

References
Accrediting standards. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from
http://www.sacscoc.org/principles.asp
Bastedo, M. (2005, July 31). Sociological frameworks for higher education policy research
(Essay). Retrieved from : http://wwwpersonal.umich.edu/~bastedo/papers/bastedo.sohe.pdf
Federal Pell Grant program. (2011). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from
http://www2.ed.gov/print/programs/fpg/index.html
Higher education. (2011). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education
Policy. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/policy
TCSG accountability. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from
http://www.tcsg.edu/accountability.php
Torjman, S. (2005). What is policy. Retrieved from Caledon Institute of Policy website:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/544ENG.pdf
What are the Pell Grant requirements. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from
http://pellgranteligibility.org/what-are-the-pell-grant-requirements/
Wilson, R. (2010). For-profit colleges change higher educations landscape [Magazine]. The
Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/For-ProfitColleges-Change/64012/