1. Why do government policies mostly reflect the concerns of the “stereotypical” kind of student (full-time student living in a dorm on a college campus, financially supported by parents), when they have become a numerical minority?
2. Do you think it is a good idea for students to work (whether it be out of choice or necessity) at the same time that they go to college? Is there any way (i.e. programs available, advisement) colleges can assist students in this type of situation? Do you think it’s smarter for these students to take out loans, so that they can focus more on their studies, or do you think they should work so that they can take care of some of the financial burden?
3. Why do you think so many students delay going to college after high school? Do you think this is a good idea to take this gap year between high school and college? What can students do during this gap year to prepare them for college that they would otherwise be missing had they not taken the gap year?
4.Why is it that only half of the students who start off their college career in 2-year colleges and aspire to 4-year degree actually transfer successfully?
5. Is it truly fair to measure the performance rate of a school (whether the school is perfoming well or badly) by using the school’s graduation rates, considering the fact that there are so many factors that can affect graduation rates, such as cycling in and out of college, attending part-time, and transferring from one college to another for financial reasons/familial circumstances? Is it fair for policy makers to reward shorter “time-to-degree” students and put such a heavy emphasis on higher institutional graduation rates? Does it seem that they are serving the more affluent students and paying less attention to low-income and minority students?
6. Instead of looking to an institution’s graduation rates as an objective measure of students’ college performance, what other measures can be used in its place?
7. Undergraduates across the social class and institutional spectrum see college as a key step toward finding a well-paying job, and so many students pick their majors with their careers in mind. Even among private liberal arts colleges, there is no strong preference toward academic/liberal arts majors. Do you think liberal arts major will continue to decline in the future? Does having a liberal arts and humanities-oriented major serve as a disadvantage or an advantage in attaining a career? How so? What types of students tend to choice career vs. academic majors?
8. What would be some of the consequence of rolling back broad access to higher education?
9. Why is it that degree completion rates at less selective colleges are low; and that the majority of students do not complete a degree, whether at the associates or bachelor’s level? Does this relate to the type of curriculum offered at these less selective colleges? Should students in less selective colleges take an entry to college exam test their skills, and should those that fall below be required to take remedial or developmental coursework before proceeding to college-level courses?
10. With regards to affirmative action, do you think it would be best for the court to uphold the current affirmative action law, “impose modest limits on the consideration of race in the admission process,” or “impose major limits” on the use of race in admissions? Why?
11. Why do presidents have a significantly more favorable view about the upside of the prior learning assessment, competency-based academic credit, and adaptive learning than they do about MOOCs?
12. Why is it that private college presidents (36%) were twice as likely to support the elimination of merit-based aid than were those at public institutions (16%)? Should financial aid focus on the neediest students?
13. What are the social implications of changing the definition of affirmative action from correcting the effect of historic discrimination to, as Justice O’Conner stated in the Grutter v. Bollinger case, “obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body?”