Performance Funding, MOOCs, and Public/ Private Distinctions
The discourse around higher education on two key topics-- MOOCs and performance funding-- is unfortunately trending toward a generic approach to institutions. Lumping public and private universities together is always unwise, because not only do their funding sources differ, but so do their missions and masters. Public institutions still lean heavily on taxpayer support to provide undergraduate education, and that funding is subject to rules developed by externally , democratically controlled governance units. They are explicitly responsible for expanding access, growing the proportion of the public that is educated at the postsecondary level. These conditions represent both benefits and constraints to public colleges and universities. In contrast, at private instituions tuition and endowments provide most of the resources for undergraduate education, and rules for that funding and spending are mainly developed internally . Their missions vary widely...