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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h \ parent \ on: English Unis Are Overpriced Trash (Financial Times, Philip Augar) econ
Interesting. I know one unsavory practice is to enroll mentally ill homeless people and load them up with student loans, then give them whatever grades are required to maintain financial aid eligibility.
This doesn't have to involve passing grades, but selectively choosing amongst "incomplete", "failing", "did not attend", etc. can keep the gravy train rolling.
I suspect something like this happens in my classes too, but it may only be 1 or 2 students per semester.
Basically, I have students who never show up for anything and don't turn in any assignments, but they still show up for the final exam and inevitably fail. I always wondered what they could possibly be thinking, but the thing is: I have to report a student's last day of attendance. I think if they literally don't show up at all, they may lose some kind of status or eligibility for financial aid (just a guess for now). Thus, if they show up for the final exam, it'll look like they were in attendance, even though there was never any intention to actually take the class or pass it.
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I should ask her a little bit more about it. I do remember that she's said she's talked to the college administrators about it.
BUT I wonder if they're in any way incentivized to actually follow up. Because they benefit from increased enrollment.
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It is probably a look-the-other-way situation.
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I don't remember all the ins and outs of these eligibility issues, but there are different scenarios where failing, incomplete, and n/a are all preferable to each other.
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Imposing an artificial market upon education has these precisely perverse results.
Education is and will always be an investment by a community in its members.
Education is not a crude commodity that can be successfully traded in a free market manner isolated from the community within which it is developed.
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