Spring 1999
More "Straight Talk": The National Commission on the Cost of
Higher Education Study and its Impact on Virginia Institutions
Wednesday, April 21, 1999 10 a.m.
Omni Charlottesville Hotel, Charlottesville, Virginia
Topic Resources:
The AIR ALERT #8, prepared July 1998, is a comprehensive briefing on the implications of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education's work. AIR members should have it in their professional development file. |
| The full report is available from the EEO right here as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. |
| Chronicle of Higher Education website for in-depth coverage of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. (Requires your Chronicle subscription password) |
| A comprehensive summary of "Straight Talk about Costs" is available from the American Council on Education right here. |
| Link to American Institutes for Research, the prime contractor for the National Cost Study. |
The Spring Meeting featured Dr. Rita Kirshstein and Dr. David Rhodes, two speakers who
were closely involvedwith the creation of the national Cost of Higher Education study.
Dr. Rita J. Kirshstein
Dr. Rita Kirshstein, a Managing Associate at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), has spent much of her career studying higher education. Her particular interest in higher education finance has resulted in numerous projects and reports that include directing the 1990 Congressionally mandated study of higher education costs and providing technical assistance and support to the more recent National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. These efforts have resulted in several reports and presentations: Trends in Institutional Costs, The Escalating Costs of Higher Education, College Tuition: How Much are Families Willing to Pay? and Straight Talk about College Costs and Prices. Currently, Dr. Kirshstein is working with David Rhodes to develop a handbook for prospective students and their parents on the price of a college education. Her interests in higher education prices and costs are growing as her own daughter begins the process of applying to college.
Dr. David Rhodes
Dr. David Rhodes is a research analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). He has spent most of his career exploring various aspects of higher education social policy. As a graduate student, assistant professor, and now consultant, Dr. Rhodes has studied various aspects of how students pay for college and society’s role in providing postsecondary education. Dr. Rhodes provided data and statistical support to the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. In this capacity, he developed analyses that helped distinguish between the price students pay for a college education and the costs that institutions incur in providing this education.