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“Everybody wants more and has less,” said David Longanecker, President, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). “We want more and better higher education, and we have fewer resources to devote to it. How do we resolve that?”

Longanecker, a former assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education, will be presenting Monday’s general session—“Reform Efforts in Federal and State Higher Education Policy”—at in Denver, March 30-April 2, 2014. He spoke with ��ɫֱ�� about ways that higher education professionals can prepare for and influence the policy changes that impact institutions.

What policy makers want

According to Longanecker, political efforts to reform higher education are focused on three major themes:

• More accountability
• More efficiency
• Higher quality

But politicians aren’t getting what they want, said Longanecker. "Part of the reason for that is there are differing visions between higher education and government, and there are different visions within the government. There’s also a contest over limited resources.”

Three strategies for success

The path to reconciling these differences and doing more with less, Longanecker says, is threefold. It involves:

Innovation within higher education. Two huge innovations Longanecker identified are: (a) increasing accessibility in ways that need-based aid hasn’t addressed and (b) improving education through technology, such as replacing large lectures with hybrid courses, using social media effectively, and using predictive analytics to intervene with at-risk students early. Innovations are happening faster than we can assess them, so it’s critically important that institutions focus on those innovations that have strong evidence behind them.

Higher education policy guided by evidence-based research. “For example, states are doing a lot more with state student databases linkages to workforce development,” Longanecker said. “That’s a step in the right direction.” 

Performance-based funding. Both state and federal funds are moving towards report-card systems tying funding to performance. “This brings us to consumer information, which is what the ratings are supposed to provide,” Longanecker said. “I’m skeptical about consumer information. I don’t believe this is industry where ‘consumers’ make decisions based on good information for two reasons.

“One, a large share is adolescents who by and large don’t use good information to make decisions. Their decisions-making is more hedonistic and not information-based.  Second, geography is a much heavier driver than good information,” he said. “Half of students go to community colleges for one reason—it’s close and cheap. And most students go to college within 200 miles of their home.”

These facts don’t impact public policy, however, which is still focused on getting better information to students—whether they’re likely to use it or not.

Work with what you’ve got

More government oversight is coming, but institutions can come up with creative ways to meet public expectations and serve the public interest through improved efficiency and better solutions—such as reaching out to underserved populations in your own backyards. “And I think you’ll see that the government will start to reward institutions for serving the public good rather than serving other interests," Longanecker said. "I think these funding reforms could ultimately be a win-win.”

Although there’s a disconnect between higher education and government policies, Longanecker thinks people will come away from the presentation with a better idea of where and how they can influence public decisions about higher education and work with the regulations they’re given.

“I look forward to the question-and-answer part of the presentation,” Longanecker said. “I think people have a lot of questions about where their institutions fit into the assumptions guiding public policy and about the budgetary constraints to do more with less.”

To read about all of the innovative thinkers and exciting sessions offered at ��ɫֱ��'s 100th Annual Meeting in Denver, March 30-April 2, 2014--and to register--click .

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David Longanecker has served as the president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Boulder since 1999. Previously, Longanecker served for six years as the assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that he was the state higher education executive officer in Colorado and Minnesota. He was also the principal analyst for higher education for the Congressional Budget Office. Longanecker has served on numerous boards and commissions. He has written extensively on a range of higher education issues. His primary interests in higher education are: expanding access to successful completion for students within all sectors of higher education, promoting student and institutional performance, assuring efficient and effective finance and financial aid strategies, and fostering effective use of educational technologies, all for the purpose of sustaining the nation’s strength in the world and increasing the quality of life for all Americans, particularly those who have traditionally been left out in the past. He holds an Ed.D. from Stanford University, an M.A. in student personnel work from George Washington University, and a B.A. in sociology from Washington State University.