Speaker
Description
Despite not being able to offer financial aid, students are enrolling in courses and programs from unaccredited providers – like MOOCs, boot camps and providers of alternative academic credit – at substantially higher rates than in accredited colleges. Recognizing this, the Department of Education started the experimental EQUIP program in 2016 to enable new providers to partner with accredited colleges to create new financial aid pathways to the providers’ students. One such program is a partnership between StraighterLine, Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) where StraighterLine will deliver a portion of two associates’ degrees for DCCCD starting in the 2017-2018 academic year. This session will:
- Describe the motivation and elements of the EQUIP program
- Discuss the motivation to participate for DCCCD, StraighterLine and CHEA
- Describe the implementation process and challenges
- Describe options for similar programs that don’t require a DoE experiment
- Provide an update of progress to date.