Funding Colleges Using A Metric Better Than Just Bodies

Tennessee is going to stop funding community colleges based solely on enrollment. In a move akin to "performance pay", the state will now look at more important measures:

Tennessee’s new college funding formula will be based on student outcomes, such as completing a certificate or degree.

Community colleges will be judged by ”the number of certificates and associate degrees produced, the number of dual enrollment students, job placement rates, the number of students who transfer out and work force training efforts,” reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Graduation rates average only 12 percent for community colleges in the state. Community college presidents argued successfully that graduation rates are not the most accurate measure of success

In the end, commission officials agreed and put the most weight — 20 percent — on job placement at Chattanooga State and remedial student success at Cleveland State.

Performance funding will be phased in over the next three to four years.

The article states that such measures are already part of the funding formula in Louisiana.

No doubt there are ways to game the system, and schools will discover those ways. Still, this seems like a positive step.