Graphic by Jade Wise: The Signal.

Padmashree Rao

The Signal

Rising college enrollment, escalating tuition costs and student loan debt, the prolonged recession and a bleak job market have sparked a national debate on whether or not a college degree is worth the effort.

Tuition costs rose again by 8.3 percent this year, doubling since 1990. Student loan debt has overtaken credit card debt with defaulted federal student loans going from 7 percent to 8.8 percent in the fiscal year.

“It is troubling that kids are spending so much money on degrees that don’t matter,” said Penelope Trunk, national blogger and co-founder of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals. “It is troubling that student debt now is higher than credit card debt. Students are graduating with debts that they can’t get jobs to pay off. It is not fair. We have a university system that doesn’t teach what you need to know for a job.”

Linking college degrees to job training has long created controversy. Educators would argue that what is at stake is not just higher earnings through degrees but higher thinking.

“You can definitely get by and make a decent living without a college degree,” said Jason Meyer, who built a career as HR liaison for 483 employees at the Valero Texas City refinery without a college degree. “But, that is what you’ll be doing – getting by. A degree gets you where you want to be. So, currently, I am in college to get a degree. That being said, we have a management level  No. 2 in charge who doesn’t have a degree. He makes quite a lot of money. He has been with the company for 32 years and getting to where he is now took a long time and hard work.”

College degrees were not always required for jobs. In the manufacturing economy of 1973, people with high school education or less made up 72 percent of our workforce.

“Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018,” June 2010 report released by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University indicated that nearly 60 percent of American jobs now require at least a bachelor’s degree. That figure was 28 percent in 1973, 59 percent in 2008 and is expected to rise to 63 percent over the next decade, the report said.

In the employment sector, the U.S. Census Bureau data showed that those with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $58,613 in 2008, while those with a high school diploma earned $31,283. The most recent analysis by the Pew Research Center revealed that the typical college graduate earns an estimated $650,000 more than a high school graduate in a 40-year-work span.

“The bottom line is that any kind of education is going to make you more competitive in the job market.  Many jobs require a basic degree to even consider you,” said Sue Cruver, marketing communications coordinator and public information officer at Workforce Solutions which is a comprehensive human resource service for businesses and residents of the 13-county Houston-Galveston Gulf Coast region. “The Gulf Coast Workforce Board that oversees the Workforce Solutions job-matching system has done a report card to be released next year. It will talk quite a bit about the need for good education to maintain and grow the workforce of a future because it is a real problem.

“We don’t have enough educated people to fill these high-skills, in-demand jobs. It will make us, as a region, less competitive. As a country, it’ll give us a very big disadvantage if we can’t get people educated. And, education has to go beyond high school. People must pursue whatever level of education needed to compete, to succeed.”

Cruver went on to explain that continuing one’s education did not necessarily mean earning an academic degree.

“Then again, we need a lot of people in the area of trained skills,” Cruver said. “That doesn’t take a college degree, but it still requires some type of education – maybe a certification from a community college. The important thing for anyone is to think in terms of what they want to do and take a skills-assessment to see what they are suited for. And then, get the best education you can for what your skills may be.”

Associate Director of Career Services at UHCL Chuck Crocker points out that several factors make a college degree worth it as a basic credential.

“It is not enough to simply get a degree,” Crocker said. “It is how you use the degree and what you do within your experience in college that also has an impact. Employers want people that have developed leadership skills, who can work effectively in teams, communicate effectively with critical thinking.

“Within most college degrees, from liberal arts to business, to science and engineering, there are opportunities to work in teams, on projects, to think critically. Especially in the global workplace, where we are going to be dealing with different cultures, people with different world views, you’ve got to be able to see things from different perspectives.”

Timothy Michael, associate professor of finance, voiced his opinion of a degree’s value.

“From an economic standpoint, one reason we have college degrees is certification,” Michael said. “Not only do you learn cultural awareness and critical thinking skills, but you demonstrate to someone in the institution that you learnt something and the experts in the university have certified that ‘this person has attained some level of accomplishment.’ It is also a function of the opportunity costs. If you just slide through some program, do not do any work, do not outreach to employers and network, you are not going to gain anything.

“Then, there is the option-value, which is very hard to measure. If you did things in college that can demonstrate that you can think, communicate effectively, have leadership skills, then all of the things you learn in a college – critical thinking, a well-rounded skill set – can be applicable to whatever job you apply for. All of those options become open to you. Above all, there is learning for learning’s sake.”

Caitlin Weekley, employer relations coordinator for UHCL career services, pointed out how university campus services can enhance the worth of a college degree.

“You have so many opportunities on campus that you are paying for,” Weekley said. “Taking advantage of everything offered here while you are a student is really important. That adds value to your college degree, aside from the value you get from just going to the classes.

“There is the student life office, student organizations that give valuable leadership experience, things those employers are looking for, things right here that you have opportunity to be part of… We have career counselors, workshops, and mock interviews, all to help in your job search. Also, networking and experiential education through internships are important.”

The Statistical Abstract of the United States estimated that 19.1 million students were enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities in fall 2010 compared to 13.8 million 20 years ago. The debate about costs and value of a college degree has increased with the demands of the 21st century as educators, employers, statistical data and researchers ask to focus on the long-term enrichment that going to college provides.

“To quote Benjamin Franklin, ‘make hay while the sun shines.’ Do everything you can, everyday. Everybody has to go through the learning, experiential process. Learn how to learn,” Michael said.

For more details on career services offered by UHCL, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/careerservices.

The Signal

Late November Sam Houston State University (SHSU) dropped its proposed social-media policy that would have allowed university administrators editing privileges to all campus-related online accounts.

After outcries from students poured in protesting the censorship on grounds of violation of students’ right to privacy and free speech, the university decided to put an end to the issue by ceasing its work with the current policy.

“As a frequent Twitter user, I know we become anxious when we can’t access,” said Candice Lamb, a SHSU undergrad. “Partly because we feel like we’re missing out on something. With instant access to news, we don’t miss much. With censorship comes the limits to outlets we have available to express creativity, social interaction and ourselves. We, as citizens, have the right to free speech and I believe we’re all grown here; we know what’s appropriate for a campus-related social network and what is not. Administrators being able to have full access to usernames and passwords seems a bit far-fetched if you ask me.”

Although the policy was rescinded, the incident raises questions on how much access college administrators and professors should have to students’ Facebook and Twitter sites.

Some colleges encourage its professors to interact with students via social networks. Some universities’ administrators closely monitor students’ Twitter and Facebook account.

For instance, the University of Maryland (UMD) “may be actively monitoring and regulating the speech of the members of its football team,” asserts the Washington Post.

“Social media is a part of our world, it’s a part of our life and probably the majority of contemporary students are interacting in that way, and we need to go to the student where he or she is,” said David Rachita, interim dean of students. “So if that’s Facebook, that’s Facebook. If it’s Twitter, it’s Twitter. So the pros are; we have direct access, it really does lend itself for open dialogue, sharing ideas and thoughts, not just between one or two people but even with a group of people. But the con is, it’s open dialogue; that’s the pro and con.

“If you’re opening yourself up to that free, open access that Facebook is, then you’re going to need to be ready to tolerate some of the messages that are shared and be open to ways of expressing ones self that maybe you don’t appreciate. Also, as a faculty or staff member, we have a responsibility and obligation to protect our students and our university. We could be put in an uncomfortable position by an inappropriate or dangerous comment made by a student, and whether or not you are interfering with that person’s private communication or private life, to a certain extent you have a duty of care.”

The SHSU incident has also raised concerns of social media censorship becoming a reality on other university campuses.

“I would agree that somebody in a security-like position has to have some kind of access to campus-related online accounts; in case there is an emergency or unforeseen circumstances where somebody is threatening another student with their life or their health,” Rachita said. “Do I think it’s a good idea that any of us have full access to campus-related online accounts, not at all. That sounds like a bad, dangerous idea to me.”

Here at UHCL, the university does not have any social-media policies nor does the university practice any censorship on its campus network.

“I don’t think the university would ever consider a social-media policy that would be unreasonably restrictive,” Rachita said. “If anything, if there isn’t a policy already stating that if such and such information resides on our server we maintain the right to edit as needed, that would probably be the only policy I would see happening.”

UHCL does host spam-filtering software for all incoming email and web-filtering software, both of which are responsible for detecting and isolating suspected malware.

“A significant and growing number of university desktop machines were being compromised by malware, which posed a security threat to all university information resources through our shared network resource,” said Margaret Lampton, director of information security and administration. “Malware was also reducing individuals’ productivity in that once their machines were infected, they were without access until the malware was removed and the desktop re-imaged. This software is a valuable tool in our continued effort to prevent security threats to our shared campus network.”

Since UHCL installed its most recent Web security system, students using campus computers do not have full access to information on the Internet. This can be problematic, especially for students who rely on university computers to conduct research.

“Here in the newsroom, we’ve been having trouble accessing websites for research and fact checking, as well as a site to download non-copyrighted music for our videos and slideshows,” said Ashley Smith, The Signal editor. “Sometimes we even have trouble accessing our own site, the admin side of The Signal WordPress site. The UCT people are always very helpful, but there’s a process in place that delays us from having immediate access.

“Whenever a site is blocked, we have to send an email and place a written request to UCT to be allowed access to specific websites, and must provide url address. The email address for the Help Desk is SupportCenter@uhcl.edu. UCT will determine if the website poses a threat to the university’s network security. If the website is deemed safe, UHCL computers will be allowed to access it. We, The Signal staff, are wondering if we are the only ones having these issues, or if other students, faculty and staff are experiencing the same issues, so we’ve created a survey.”

For more information about the survey, click here.

Graphic by Paul Lopez: The Signal.

Debra Machemehl

The Signal

Every day in the State of Texas 719 students drop out of high school.  High school dropouts drain the national and state economy by lowering local, state and national tax revenues.  Even when employed, they earn significantly lower wages than high school graduates.

“For the class of 2010 graduates, 7.3 percent dropped out of high school, a decrease of 2.1 percent from the class of 2009,” said Susan Marchman, communication information officer for Texas Education Agency.

Texas once again ranks in the bottom third of states in high school dropouts.  Students leave high school without a diploma, a high cost to themselves and society.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private child advocacy group, released its annual Kids Count Data Book reported that only nine states in the nation (in descending order they are Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, West Virginia and Nevada) have a higher percentage of teens not attending school than Texas’ 7.3 percent.

The American Community Survey, a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, reported 25.9 percent of people aged 25 and older do not have a high school diploma and are living at or below the poverty level in Texas.

The unemployment rate for college educated workers was 4.3 percent in July of 2011, compared to 9.3 percent for workers with a high school diploma only, and 15 percent for workers without a high school diploma.

The Casey Foundation encourages students to stay in school, stating on its website that improving education will create a wave of economic benefits including increasing individual earnings, home and auto sales, job and economic growth, spending and investment and tax revenue.

“Not having a high school diploma or general education diploma certainly has an impact on an individual’s ability to find jobs and find better jobs,” said Edward Honold, director of adult education for Harris County Education Department. “If you look at the life-long earnings of those who get a high school diploma or GED versus the people who do not – overtime studies have shown people with a high school diploma will make $167,000 more than those who do not.  This affects their capacity and, in all probability, some will ask for help or support from the state than those who do have a high school diploma.”

The U.S. Bureau of Census reports the average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate, a difference of $9,634.

On average, each high school dropout costs the U.S. economy about $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes and productivity over his or her working lifetime.

“Adult education is an investment in the future of our state,” Honold said.  “Better- educated parents raise better-educated, more successful children who are less likely to end up in poverty.”

While the need for better-educated, skilled workers continues to rise, the available pool of such workers is decreasing in the U.S. and Texas.

“A recent study by the Brookings Institute showed the lower the education, the harder it is to find a job,” said Sue Cruver, marketing communications coordinator for Gulf Coast Workforce.  “Locally, it is due to the fact that the education and skill requirements for industries experiencing the largest job growth are at or higher than a high school or GED diploma.”

As a state, Texas benefits from increased graduation rates because the economics of increased buying power, better tax paying ability, and will see higher levels of worker productivity.

“In this area, Galveston County as a whole, we producing around 600 GEDs a year but we have 700 to 800 dropouts each year,” said Josh Hayes, director of adult education for College at the Mainland.  “Each year that we operate we have seen that problem exacerbate across the board.  What we are looking at is making a connection between completing GED, the secondary education and the more advance job training that is essential to maintain steady work.  That is where the gap is.  There are jobs in the area but there is just not that many qualified individuals.”

Click on the image or the link below to take the survey.

Click here to take survey.

The Signal

Kyle Riggs brings a glass of water to a table at a local area Gringos.

As a server, Riggs is used to seeing people come and go in the sometimes nomadic industry. Riggs left the industry in 2008 to go to school at UHCL, graduating in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Riggs went with what interested him, passing up degree plans in business or other “market-friendly” degrees. However, even those degrees haven’t panned out for some of his co-workers.

“I knew a political science degree can only do so much, but it was all I was interested in, so I bit the bullet,” explained Riggs. “I have friends who have degrees in finance who wait tables too so I understood the risk, but while it wouldn’t be easy, I expected to find a job.”

Life after graduation led Riggs to apply for jobs everywhere, to no avail.

“I was dropping 7-10 resumes weekly, until I finally started getting desperate and willing to take anything, regardless if it applied to my degree or not,” Riggs said.

Facing $20,000 in student loans and a fiancée, Riggs found himself back to square one, waiting tables.

Riggs still hopes he can put the degree he earned to use.

“I’m hoping the economy turns around in the next couple years and, in the meantime, I may just go back to college,” Riggs explained.

However, executive orders from the Obama administration may help situations like Riggs’ be a bit less burdensome.

Set in motion in late October, the orders are one of many in the latest “We Can’t Wait” campaign launched by the Obama administration as it waits for another $447 billion jobs bill to be moved by Congress.

The orders, estimated by President Obama to help 1.6 million students lower their financial aid loan payments is just that, a system designed to work with Americans with college debt who are finding it difficult to pay off student loans.

The proposal is entitled “Pay As You Earn,” and bases monthly student loan repayments to be capped off at 10 percent of discretionary income as of July 2014. However, a new proposal has been put in place to allow those 1.6 million to start capping their loans next year.

Those 1.6 million are not the only ones in line to get a break.

The administration is also setting forth to allow another 6 million borrowers to consolidate their loans into one monthly payment, thereby allowing them to receive up to a 0.5 percent reduction.

It is a sound strategy that UHCL Executive Director of Financial Aid Billy Satterfield agrees is worth considering.

“Some students may want to consider after the first of the year [consolidating loans], as those options are available until then,” Satterfield said.
Satterfield also notes that the new plan is basically the current plan, but much faster in action.

“The big thing with that is that it is actually accelerating what we commonly refer to as the Income Base Repayment Plan,” Satterfield said.

Satterfield explains that the old plan allowed for the situation that if students were paying more than 15 percent of their discretionary income, then they could apply for loan modifications and reduce payments. The plan also allowed for forgiveness of whatever was left on the loans after 25 years with timely payments.

Now, under the new plan, a student has 20 years instead of 25 and the rate is cut to 10 percent of discretionary income.

However, while lower payments are fine for most students, others simply want a lower interest rate from the current, as the current economy has made finding jobs a bit more difficult. In fact, the New York Federal Reserve’s newest report states that student loans are expected to surpass the $100 billion mark, with outstanding balances exceeding $1 trillion, passing up credit card debt.

Unlike credit card debt, however, student loans survive bankruptcy, forcing former students to have greater pressure to repay them.

Satterfield quotes the current interest rate for an undergraduate student taking a subsidized loan as 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for a graduate student with unsubsidized loans.

“They are still a relative low interest rate,” Satterfield said.

Satterfield offers this advice for students who have graduated looking for assistance with their loans.

“The best advice we give students, especially after they have graduated, is to contact their lender,” Satterfield said. “Really, once the school gets the funds and we give the funds to the student, we are out of it.”

Satterfield recommends that students look into federal loans first, as they are in the best interest of the student, but also for those students to ultimately stay in contact with their lenders throughout the process.

“If they’re having loan issues, most definitely they should contact their lender,” Satterfield said.




Video created by The Signal reporters Wardah Ajaz and Debra Machemehl.

Daniel Agee

The Signal

On Nov. 8, 2011, Texas voters approved the passage of Proposition 3, which appeared on the ballot as a constitutional amendment.

Proposition 3 reauthorizes the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to issue and sell general obligation bonds on a continuing basis for the purpose of financing education loans for students.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has been providing low cost and low interest loans to help students pay for  college since 1965. The Hinson-Hazelwood College Student loan program offers help to students who cannot obtain the funds to pay for college through other sources.

In 2007, Texas voters authorized $500 million in bonds to be used for student loans. Of the $500 million, approximately $275 million remain unissued and is expected to be exhausted by 2013.  Without the passage of Proposition 3, once the $500 million is committed, the Hinson-Hazelwood student loan program would not be able to offer any more student loans without additional authorization.

Proposition 3 proposed an “evergreen clause.” This will allow the program to issue bonds without having to go back and ask for authorization as long as the amount of loans that are outstanding does not exceed the amount previously approved by the voters, which is $1.86 billion.

“What this means for the program is that we are going to be able to respond more proactively to the student demands in terms of need for students loans,” said Dominic Chavez, director of external relations for THECB.  “It’s a net benefit for students that we will now have sufficient capacity to serve as many students as needed for student loans.”

Although Proposition 3 did meet with opposition, it passed with a vote of 689,158 to 362,223. The opposing side of Proposition 3 argued that the state should not contribute more money into financial aid because state revenue is not coming in at the rate that it once was. They believe that with the current recession, the government should not be able to keep subsidizing the system for higher education; students seeking financial aid and college loans should lean more toward the free market and obtain funds for school through traditional routes like banks or agencies.

“Our organization was opposed to Proposition 3 because much like proposition 2, which wasn’t mentioned in ballot language, but the way that these bonds are set up gives the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board the authority not to go back to the tax payers and ask whether the bonds should be reinstituted after they have been paid out,” said Andrew Kerr, executive director of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (Empowered Texans.) “Basically, it puts the tax player in perpotianial debt.”

However, Chavez points out that the program has never relied on tax dollars to support the repayment of bonds of the money borrowed. Chavez, emphasized that the tax payers are not on the hook for the operation of the program and since tuitions and fees have increased steadily over the years, and look as if they will continue to rise, these trend will put a squeeze on financial aid programs in terms of grant, at both the state and federal level.

“The access to low cost and low interest loans that we offer from the state of Texas, that Proposition 3 will support, will allow us to fill that gap in terms of at least to continue making higher education affordable for students, and in the terms of the state of Texas by basically extending the longest financial aid program in state history, for many more years,” Chavez said.

Billy Satterfield, executive director of financial aid for UHCL, explains what Proposition 3 means for the students of UHCL.

“Proposition 3 is basically increasing money through the Texas Higher Education to loan out additional money under the college access loan,” Satterfield said. “Students will have more availability of funds. Basically they divvy it out. It will help some of our students who cannot finance their education through Stanford loans, the federal loan program. Unfortunately, for us, our cost of education is relatively low compared to other universities in Texas. I think there will be a need, just not as big of a need as though students who attend UH main campus.”

Photo image created by Paul Lopez: The Signal.

Cindy Marquez

The Signalz

The latest report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009) lists Texas as the state with the highest teen birth rate in the nation among girls age 15 – 19.

The National Vital Statistics System on the CDC website shows that in Texas, a total of 52,656 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 became mothers in 2009: 44,175 Caucasians; 7,922 African Americans; 176 American Indians; and 383 Asian or Pacific Islanders.

Ninety-four percent of Texas schools teach abstinence-only programs.  In fact, Texas receives more federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education than any other state. This program excludes discussion on any forms of contraception or birth control including condoms.

Regardless of what type of federal funding has been applied for and received, in the state of Texas it is up to the individual school districts whether to teach comprehensive sex education or abstinence-only programs.

Governor Rick Perry has only sought funding for abstinence-only sex education programs in Texas schools.  In October 2010, Perry sat down with Evan Smith, editor in-chief of the Texas Tribune.  During the interview, Smith asked Perry why he continues to promote his abstinence-only sex education policy since Texas has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation.

Perry’s response was that “abstinence works,” despite Texas’ teen pregnancy ranking. His argument was that the problem “is the way it’s being taught or the way it’s being applied out there.” Perry went on to say that from his own personal experience, abstinence does work.

The School Health Advisory Council’s responsibility is to review the recommended sex education and curriculum to the school board. It is a state requirement that parents make up a percentage of SHAC membership.

“What we do know is that a lot of school health advisory councils, they don’t have the time or sometimes the knowledge to investigate the different programs that may be proven to work,” said Kim Johnson, project director for The University of Texas Prevention Research Center. “What will happen is they’ll have different vendors come in and sell their product and sell their curriculum; a lot of times that’s how their programs are selected. What we’ve been doing is educating school health advisory councils in choosing a program that’s evidence-based, abstinence-only, abstinence-plus, whatever program it is, that it’s evidence-based behavior.”

Johnson pointed out that Harris County was granted $15 million to do evidence-based programming. Also, The University of Texas Prevention Center is currently in collaboration with 10 school districts offering a program that is abstinence-plus that has been proven to delay sex among adolescents in middle school.  This program emphasizes the benefits of abstinence, but also includes medically accurate information as well as information on contraception and disease prevention.

“We know that abstinence is the healthiest and safest lifestyle and is the only 100 percent effective protection against the possible consequences,” said Julie Mayfield, director of ReL8, an abstinence-only program dedicated to influencing youth to pursue a lifestyle of saving sex for marriage. “Abstinence education encompasses far more than ‘just say no to sex;’ it’s relationship building, healthy versus unhealthy relationships, refusal skills, navigating media influences, talking about goals, and really character-education based.”

In contrast, comprehensive sex education supporters such as Advocates for Youth “champions efforts to help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health.”

“I think we need to recognize that sexuality is a normal and healthy part of all of us,” said Will Neville Rehbehn, director of strategic communications for Advocates for Youth. “Abstinence has no effectiveness whatsoever; looking at the problem backward rather than taking a realistic approach to what young people need.”

Although there are many sex education programs out there, they fall into five basic categories.  In addition to the abstinence-only-until-marriage and abstinence-plus programs these include: 1.) comprehensive sex education – provides information on human development, relationships, decision-making, abstinence contraception and disease prevention; 2.) abstinence-only – emphasizes abstaining from all sexual behaviors and does not include information on contraception or disease prevention; 3.) fear-based – abstinence-only and abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that instill fear, shame and guilt, and send negative messages about sexuality.

“Some of the common fatal flaws or fatal errors in programs that aren’t evidence-based are what we call scare tactics into abstaining, which we know does not work,” Johnson said. “If you provide the right information and the skills, they can abstain.”

Mona Lee, 19, took health education during her second semester of 12th grade in high school, but she was already pregnant. Lee is the mother of a 23-month-old boy and an 11-month-old girl.
“My life changed from having freedom to no freedom at all,” Lee said “Can’t do anything with a baby on the hip.”

Johnson points out that Texas parents have an opportunity to implement other programs besides abstinence-only-until-marriage. “What parents can do is join their local SHAC,” Johnson said. “The SHAC is probably one of the most influential committees in terms of sex education in the state for a school district. We’ve seen a lot of districts push a lot of good programs through when they have a really effective SHAC and the parents are there actively, so we’re seeing parent support overwhelming support abstinence-plus programs.”

The Signal

Academic honesty is an issue that arises in any institution of higher learning, and UHCL is becoming more proactive in the fight to eliminate plagiarism issues including the recent release of the Writing Center’s new book, “Giving Credit Where Credit is Due.”

During the 2010-11 academic year, UHCL faculty reported 76 academic honesty violations Interim Dean of Students David Rachita has listened to the different reasons students give for these violations including the most common reason – simply not knowing.

“I do receive reasons from both international and domestic students as to why this is new territory for them,” Rachita said. “All students, whether they are domestic or international, there is a large group of them that say they have never experienced the documentation requirements as they’ve experienced them here at UHCL.”

Intellectual ownership in America differs from other countries that see it as more of a shared knowledge, which can cause citing issues for international students.

“Imagine you go to a different country where the standards change, it can become very confusing,” said Chole Diepenbrock, director of the UHCL Writing Center. “It’s not just a question of the rules changing, it’s also a question of cultural values. In the United States we value intellectual property quite a bit, we value originality of ideas, but other cultures value sharing and community. People lend things easily; people quote as a way of honoring the person they’re quoting. They don’t have to be perfect about it.”

Many domestic students, however, even though they have been exposed to citing and documenting sources as part of our education system, also cite lack of knowledge as a reason for academic honesty violations.

“They [domestic students] will also come and tell us that even if they knew that they had to document and cite that they were never really held to a certain style: MLA, APA, Chicago or any other style, as long as references were documented, they say they were okay,” Rachita said. “As with the international students, when they get here they find out how strict and serious we are about the proper way to document, there is a learning curve there as well.”

UHCL is taking measures to ensure that the learning curve happens before the potential of getting into trouble in the classroom.

For the past three semesters during International Student Orientation, Rachita has lead an academic honesty workshop, and this fall he has used that model to develop an academic honesty workshop for general new student orientation.

A major development in becoming proactive is the creation of the Writing Center’s book, “Giving Credit Where Credit is Due,” on how to correctly cite sources. Diepenbrock explained how even though there are books about plagiarism on the market, there are none that go beyond and explain why it is important to document sources in a relatable voice to students.

“I wanted the tone of this publication to be friendly and helpful, not to assume people are cheating,” Diepenbrock said. “We tried to make it positive.”

To achieve a friendly and relatable tone, Diepenbrock called on her tutors at the Writing Center to contribute not only articles and essays on different subjects, but also create cartoons and animations of all the tutors. They also decided to include the mascot for the UHCL Writing Center, Susie Q.

“We had some ‘Ask Susie’ columns that evolved so people were asking how to cite a tattoo, or how to cite something that somebody yelled outside of their car, stuff like that, silly things, so we wanted to make it fun, make it accessible,” Diepenbrock said.

The book, currently available for free to members of the UHCL community, is being reviewed for publication by the International Writing Center’s Association Press and, with approval, will be published and available for people outside UHCL to purchase. After giving away the first 1,000 copies, the book is now in its second printing.

So far this academic year, which began this fall semester, there have been four reported cases of academic honesty violations. Rachita is not sure what the reason behind the drop in numbers is, but he feels that getting the word out on the seriousness of academic honesty is helping the downfall.

“The more the students hear the message, whether it’s in print, whether it’s on the website, whether it’s face to face, whether it’s the workshops we’ve created, they hear the faculty talking in the classrooms, they hear their peers talking about it, then they understand that this campus takes academic honesty seriously and then there are fewer issues,” Rachita said. “That’s what we’re working towards, making sure that it’s talked about and it’s heard in many different places on campus that not only does everybody take it seriously, but everybody respects it and understands why it’s important.”

To pick up a free copy of “Giving Credit Where Credit is Due,” visit the Writing Center in the Student Services Building, room 2105.

Chief Paul S. Willingham announced today that a team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®) will arrive Dec. 5, 2011 to examine all aspects of the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department’s policy and procedures, management, operations and support services. The assessment team is composed of top public safety practitioners from similar, but out-of-state, agencies. The assessment team members assigned to review the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department are:

Team Leader:
Dr. Thomas Johnson, Ph.D.
Chief of Police
Western Carolina University Police Department

Team Member:
Ms. Blythe Frausto
Accreditation Manager
Arizona State University Police Department

Verification by the team that the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department meets the Commission’s industry best practice standards is part of a voluntary process to gain national accreditation – a top recognition of public safety professional excellence. Only three percent (3%) of all law enforcement agencies in the United States have earned accreditation.

As part of the on-site assessment, agency personnel and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public hearing session on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. The public hearing will be held in the Garden Room within the Bayou Building on the University of Houston-Clear Lake Campus (2700 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, Texas 77058).

If for some reason an individual cannot speak at the public hearing, but would still like to provide comments to the assessment team, he or she may do so by telephone. The public may call 281-283-2233 on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Telephone comments as well as appearances at the public hearing session are limited to ten minutes and must address the agency’s ability to comply with CALEA standards. A copy of the CALEA standards is available at the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department Business Office at Bayou 1636 between 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The UHCL PD contact is Ms. Kelley Reid, at 281-283-2231.

Anyone wishing to submit written comments about the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department’s ability to comply with the standards for accreditation should send written correspondence to:

Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320
Gainesville, VA 20155

or send an email (with University of Houston-Clear Lake Police in the subject line) to calea@calea.org.

The University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department must comply with 189 standards in order to gain accredited status. The assessors will review written materials, interview individuals and visit offices and other locations where compliance can be witnessed.

Once the CALEA assessors complete their review of the agency, they report back to the Commission, which will then decide if the agency is to be granted accredited status. Accreditation is for three years, during which the agency must submit annual reports, attesting continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited.

For more information regarding the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, please write the Commission at the aforementioned address or visit them on the web at www.calea.org or email them at calea@calea.org.

For more information about the University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department or its endeavor to reach accredited status, please contact:

Paul S. Willingham
Chief of Police
policechief@uhcl.edu
281-283-2222

or

Ms. Kelley Reid
Accreditation Coordinator
reidkel@uhcl.edu
281-283-2231

The Signal

Citing efforts to assist Texas in “Closing the Gaps” by 2015, an initiative created by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to increase the number of degrees, certificates and other student successes, the THECB made a recommendation to the legislative that would change state appropriated formula funding for higher education.

Currently, state funding for universities is based 100 percent on the number of students enrolled as of the 12th day of class, the state census date of enrollment. The recommendation from THECB is for 90 percent of state funding to continue to be based on enrollment but to reserve 10 percent and base it on student outcomes in terms of: degrees awarded; degrees awarded in critical fields such as science, technology, engineering and math; and for at-risk students.

Dominic Chavez, director of external relations for THECB, said the legislative decided that this was not the right time to execute the 90/10 split, but what they decided to do was to pass House Bill 9.

“House Bill 9 basically sets up a pretty clear mission statement that our funding system for higher education should be aligned with the goals we set forth in our higher education master plan,” Chavez said. “The legislation directs the coordinating board as part of our current statutory authority to develop formula recommendations each biennium before we go into session terms of how much we should fund higher education and what should be the relative weights for various majors and programs.”

The amount of state appropriations was a topic recently discussed at a town hall meeting with University of Houston-Clear Lake President William Staples.

“We’re continuing to see a decline percentage wise in state appropriations to higher education, and that decline is being made up to a certain extent to increases in tuition,” Staples said. “It used to be that UH-Clear Lake and other universities, for the most part, got something in excess of 50 percent of their budget from the state. Now, it’s less than 50 percent, and it’s continuing to go down.”

Although state appropriations for Texas state universities continue to decline, if the legislature approves the 90/10 split in the next session, which Chavez says THECB will continue to recommend, Chavez said these universities will have an opportunity to gain more points for degrees awarded and degrees awarded in critical fields.

A challenge UHCL currently faces with a 90/10 split is that as a higher level institution, its students have passed the remedial stage of the college career, which will automatically put it at a disadvantage for earning that extra incentive for at-risk students.

At-risk students are defined by H.B. 9 as “an undergraduate student of an institution of higher education who has been awarded a grant under the federal Pell Grant program or who on the date the student initially enrolled in the institution was 20 years of age or older; had a score on the Scholastic Assessment Test or the American College Test that was less than the national mean score for students taking that test; was enrolled as a part-time student; had not received a high school diploma but had received a high school equivalency certificate within the last six years.”

“I don’t mind losing out on that [point],” said Rick Short, dean of the School of Human Sciences and Humanities. “We’d have to have a whole structure to deal with developmental and remedial education. It’s needed for some students. Because we admit students who have already been successful for two years, we can pretty much predict that they’re going to be successful anyway.”

This is not the first time THECB has attempted to introduce the idea of formula funding based on a completion rate. In 2007, THECB also recommended a formula funding plan based on percent enrollment vs. outcomes.

“An Overview of the THECB’s Formula Funding Recommendations for the 2010-2011 Biennium” emphasizes a shift to formula funding. The overview lists a change in base funding in which an attempted semester credit hours vs. completed semester credit hours shift in funding would take place over the next four years, going from basing 100 percent of the state’s funding on attempted semester credit hours to 75/25 for the first year, 50/50 for the second year, 25/75 for the third year, and finally zero funding based on attempted semester credit hour to 100 percent funding for completed semester credit hours by the fourth year. This proposal was recommended only if a minimum of $200 million was added to state universities’ current base instruction and operations funding.

However, Chavez said that plan was still based on a 90/10 split with the 25 percent shifts over four years only affecting the 10 percent allocated for completed courses. He said it was never proposed to go to 100 percent completion.

“That proposal was when we were looking at basing [formula funding] on course completion,” Chavez said. “In 2007 we were recommending that; again, it was still going to be 90 percent/10 percent enrollments vs. outcomes. What we were going to measure outcomes by was how many students completed a course, but that proposal is long dead gone.”

Although the proposal to base funding on 100 percent course completion is not the one currently being recommended to Texas legislators, a plan phasing to 100 percent course completion over the next four years in 25 percent increments was presented to UHCL faculty last month as a possible proposal; hypothetical repercussions remain a concern.

“One current concern is that students will be encouraged to remain in courses that they are unable to complete with a passing grade rather than dropping and trying again when circumstances are better in terms of their attention to the work,” said William D. Norwood, president of the UHCL faculty senate. “And, of course, we fear that further budget cuts will make it even harder to provide the services students want and deserve.”

Staples points out that course completion is a worthy goal, but there are other considerations that should be taken into account for university funding.

“It’s not just course completion; it’s degree completion,” Staples said. “If you have pay on course completion or degree completion and x number of students drop for whatever reason, you still have the cost of delivering that course.”

Chavez said he expects during the next legislative session to revisit the 90/10 split, again, with 10 percent of the total formula being based on outcomes.

“One of our plans was, and I suspect we’ll still make that recommendation, to phase that transition in,” Chavez said. “In other words, over four years, not just automatically go to a 90/10 split, but to phase that 10 percent in over time so maybe the first year would still be at 100 percent, the next year would be at 95 and 5, and then the next year would be 90/10.”