Improving Affordability Through Curbing Cost Increases

institutions rarely think of approaches toward this goal. According to the report published by Lumina Foundation, Putting Colleges on Notice: Crafting Smarter Strategies to Improve Affordability through Curbing Cost Increases, college leaders are â€Å"either failing to pay attention, failing to prioritize, or failing to act on the affordability issue† (Fryar and Carlson, 2014, p.3). Current efforts to improve affordability are halted by the insufficient attention and the â€Å"lack of knowledge, evidence, and thoughtful strategy regarding the role of institutional leaders† (p.3). In a 2008 survey, the Iron Triangle: College Presidents Talk About Costs, Access and Quality, a report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and†¦show more content†¦Institutional leaders, as the entrepreneur for organization culture and value, their perception of the conflict between cost and quality, and the quality first mindset will shape the organization culture and influence institution’s efforts toward affordability. As discussed by Fryar (2014), if leaders perceive efforts to improve affordability as threats to the quality of their institution, efforts toward promoting affordability will be halted. Furthermore, prioritizing quality let college leaders seek for more stable and dependable financial sources. Tuition and fees, as one of the controllable and dependable source, will be the first choice for institution to maintain quality and avoid risk (Fryar, 2014). The dominant ideology that links price with quality in higher education institutions, or in other words, quality is maintained on the base of accumulation of tangible resources and the higher the price is, the better the education will be, is the root problem for the ineffective institutional affordability movements. Reducing Student Debt Burden Higher debt burden for students may increase their probability to default on the loans, and high cohort default rates can negatively reflect on institution quality;