In Tenn., A Possible Model For Higher Education

The typical college student today isn’t "typical" anymore: Only 1 in 4 lives on campus and studies full time.

But part-timers and commuter students are much less likely to finish — most part-time students are still without a degree or a certificate after eight years. Higher education is desperately looking for strategies that improve those numbers. There might be one in Tennessee.

Many higher-ed institutions brag about all the choices they offer: lots of courses and majors to choose from, pick your own schedule. But for some students, choice can be the enemy, says James King, vice chancellor of the Tennessee Technology Centers, a state-supported career-training program with 27 locations strung across the state.

"We do not use the Burger King Approach — ‘Have it your way’ — because, most of the time, employers do not have that approach," he said. "You work according to a schedule they set."

by Larry Abramson

Full Story: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/27/142759691/in-tenn-a-possible-model-for-higher-education