Giving Compass' Take:

· Alana Dunagan at the Christensen Institute explains how federal policy is limiting innovation in higher education and suggest rethinking regulation to further progress.

· Why is it important for federal policy to support innovation? What restrictions do higher education institutions currently face?

· Read more about the challenges of innovation in higher education.

In an era of escalating costs, low completion rates, and ballooning student debt, it seems fair to assert that American higher education is in crisis. But despite a landscape that appears bleak, there are bright spots of innovation on the horizon, illuminating new models that can help students learn, earn college degrees, and find their way in the workforce—all at a fraction of the cost of traditional college.

The key to helping these models succeed? Updating the federal laws that govern higher education.

The traditional model of college is broken, dogged by high costs and weak outcomes. Colleges and universities shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame—in large part, they have done exactly what federal policy has incentivized them to do (enroll students at ever increasing costs), ignored areas that the law has not incentivized (student outcomes), and avoided what federal policy has strongly discouraged (innovation).

Changing the law could change the higher education landscape for the better, and encourage the proliferation and growth of successful, innovative models like WGU.

Read the full article about innovation in higher education by Alana Dunagan at the Christensen Institute.