Combine Discussion Assignments | Online Homework Help

Combine the two attachments to match the requirements below

Assignment Requirements

To achieve a successful project experience and outcome, you are expected to meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Length of paper: 12–15 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins, excluding the title page, abstract, and reference page.
• List of references: At least one reference from professional journals or texts, the Internet, or other resources.
• APA format: The paper is formatted according to the current APA style and formatting guidelines.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 points.

Higher Education Policies

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Higher Education Policies

In the United States Primarily, the responsibility of education is vested upon individual states. This, however, does not exonerate the federal government from the education sector. The national government plays a supporting role in providing finances as well as funds and assistance in a bid to provide a lifeline whenever states are overwhelmed by the burden of overseeing the education within their jurisdictions.  The funds from the feral government come in handy in helping millions of Americans, some of whom financial circumstances have impeded them from seeking education and particularly higher education. It is also judicious to note that the federal government does not only offer monetary support but also other forms of support in ways that will be discussed below.

Environment necessary for the excelling of education is also a burden of the federal government. A common myth is that the environment suitable for study which entails security, classrooms, sanitation and tranquility away from noisy environs of industries and busy towns, is only a necessity of the primary and secondary levels. However, it has since been discovered that the same environment is also needed by the tertiary level. The federal governments after providing these basic needs necessary for the thriving of the education sector in states, the states are then mandated to ensure the growth of the sector (In Inoue, 2019). Deductively, the states play a major role in determining the type of educational prospects it is going to provide for its residents.

The past centuries have experienced investment in the education sector by both the federal government and the state government and notably, the investment spread over the past fifty years is immense (Heller, 2016). These investments can be attributed to the opinion bored by the relevant stakeholders of the service to the public interest that these investments will give. The opinion further digresses from the profit-making point of an investment concept to reveal that the investments will be a stepping stone for the residents whose ambitions and desires have been just aspirations. It is at this juncture that we realize that the investments are in the form of policies. A perfect exemplar of such a policy is the enactment of the Higher Education Amendment Act of 1972 (Rose, 2018). This Act achieved the feat of assuring the public that financial incapability will not be an impediment anymore to those that sought education past high school.

In respect to policies, it is important to realize that there are no two states that are alike in their conception, designing and implementation of their policies. Each state has a unique way that they go about their public policy. This is because, unlike other public policies that target infrastructures development and social engagement, the policies on higher education will need to delve deeper into histories and cultures that relate to it. Deductively, this is to simply say that policies on higher education have a different graphical representation if at all the policies on public issues were to be represented on a graph. The National Center for Public Policy has partnered with Higher Education providers in order to develop a promising set of criterion in a bid to gauge the performance in individual states.

In an engagement on the complexities of the various states in respect to the policies they conceive as regards higher education, a lot of factors have to be considered. It is also pertinent to understand that these policies will emanate from a combination of other policies (In Paulsen, 2017).  . The factors to be considered may range from the obligatory duty of a state governor in ensuring that the higher education is a priority when formulating policies to the powers conferred to the legislature to legislate on the same. However, there exist two key categories of determinants. Firstly, there is State System Design which entails the service providers and their individual roles and secondly, the State Fiscal Policy which basically is the amount of operating support and regulations that govern its distribution.

The discourse above has therefore proven that the core role of public policy in relation to higher education is to provide a basis from which higher education will emanate from. Public policies provide all the resources required to propel the provision of higher education. It is through public policies that the institutions offering this education are established and it is through the same policies that the standards of the education being offered by the institutions are determined and set (In Paulsen, 2017).  It also seeks to address the questions posited by the entire entity of education. These questions include the objectives of education offered to be they societal or personal. Similarly, it is able to set the guidelines of how these objectives are to be achieved as well as the tools that can be used to measure the levels of success of the implementation of these successes.

This discourse shall discuss the higher education policies in the state of New Jersey. The reason why the state of New Jersey was chosen for the purpose of the study was inspired by a study that was done by a report that was given by the Institute of Education Sciences. The report was conducted to determine the state that had the best overall education rankings. The data used to determine this was a composite that included academic performance, resource availability and the graduations rate in the ration of six to two to two respectively. The computation of these data provided that New Jersey was the state that performed very well with respect to these tests. Therefore by studying the education of New Jersey, one might be able to understand the higher education policies that have influenced the high graduation rate of students.

References

Ackerman, R. L., & DiRamio, D. C. (2009). Creating a veteran-friendly campus: Strategies for transition and success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. There is a significant group of students who leave for service and return?under the best of circumstances, they need accommodation to succeed. Institutions of higher education traditionally have responded to the needs of special student populations by developing programs and offering services. This volume contains information about programmatic initiatives that can help create a welcoming environment for veterans, one that encourages serious, creative involvement.

Cass, D. M. (2014). The strategic student veteran: Successfully transitioning from the military to college academics. This book was previously sold under the title “The Strategic Student: Veteran’s Edition” and features updated content. A practical guide of immense value to both students and their supporters. Perceptive and useful from a practical viewpoint. I have no doubt incoming freshmen will benefit from its insights.

Heller, H. (2016). Capitalist university – the transformations of higher education in the unit. Henry Heller offers here a magisterial account of the modern university that shows exactly how we’ve reached this point. Taking readers from the early Cold War–when support for universities was support for capitalism–through the countless social, political, and educational changes of the ensuing decades, Heller reveals how American educational institutions have been forced to decide between teaching students to question the dominant order and helping to perpetuate it. And they’ve had to do so knowing that all the pressure politics and finance was pushing for the latter.
Heller covers such key moments as McCarthyism and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, as well as contemporary struggles including the attempts at unionization of post-doctoral, the National Adjuncts Walkout Day in 2015, the protests in Missouri related to race, workplace benefits, and leadership, and the firing of Steven Salaita for his pro-Palestinian tweets, which sparked a huge controversy around free speech and academic freedom. The Capitalist University is a thoroughly grounded radical history of an institution whose influence and importance–and failures–reach deep into American political and social life.

In Freeman, S., In Goodchild, L. F., In Hagedorn, L. S., In Wright, D., & Wolf-Wendel, L. (2014). Advancing higher education as a field of study: In quest of doctoral degree guidelines : commemorating 120 years of excellence. While in 1979 the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) defined standards for student affairs master’s level preparation, and while 2010 saw the adoption of guidelines for higher education administration and leadership preparation programs at the master’s degree level, there still are, however, no guidelines that address higher education leadership doctoral programs, despite increasing demands for assessment and evaluation.This book suggests that higher education administration doctoral degree guidelines are a critical next step in advancing their program quality and continuity. It offers a review of the field’s history, the condition of its higher education programs, developments from the student affairs specialization and its guidelines, and a multi-chapter dialogue on the benefits or disadvantages of having guidelines.

In Hughes-Kirchubel, L., In MacDermid, S., & In Riggs, D. S. (2018). A battle plan for supporting military families: Lessons for the leaders of tomorrow. This unique reference integrates knowledge culled from fifteen years of U.S. deployments to create an action plan for supporting military and veteran families during future conflicts. Its innovative ideas stretch beyond designated governmental agencies (e.g., Department of Defense, VA) to include participation from, and possible collaborations with, the business/corporate, academic, advocacy, and philanthropic sectors. Contributors identify ongoing and emerging issues affecting military and veteran families and recommend specific strategies toward expanding and enhancing current programs and policy. This proactive agenda also outlines new directions for mobilizing the research community, featuring strategies for addressing institutional challenges and improving access to critical data

In Inoue, Y. (2019). Faculty roles and changing expectations in the new age. Faculty Roles and Changing Expectations in the New Age provides a theoretical understanding of the link between ongoing changes in institutions and changes in faculty roles and provides course designs and pedagogical approaches that place faculty in the role of leaders and coaches for learning. While highlighting topics such as online andragogy, language learning, and digital transformation, this publication explores real-life examples and experiences of those involved in optimizing the practices of teaching and learning in the digital age. It is ideally designed for educators, instructors, administrators, faculty, researchers, practitioners, professors, and trainers.

In Paulsen, M. B. (2017). Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research: Published under the Sponsorship of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic. The Handbook focuses on a comprehensive set of central areas of study in higher education that encompasses the salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries undertaken in the international higher education community. Each annual volume contains chapters on such diverse topics as research on college students and faculty, organization and administration, curriculum and instruction, policy, diversity issues, economics and finance, history and philosophy, community colleges, advances in research methodology and more. The series is fortunate to have attracted annual contributions from distinguished scholars throughout the world.

Jones, K., McBain, L., & Eagan, M. K. (2017). Student Veteran Data in Higher Education: New Directions for Institutional Research, Number 171. While the Post-9/11 GI Bill created both a surge in student veteran enrollment at colleges and universities across the U.S. and keen interest by various stakeholders in how the billions of Federal dollars are being spent, higher education researchers have not historically focused on military-affiliated students.
This special issue provides education and suggestions for institutional researchers to approach studying student veterans.

Loss, C. P. (2012). Between citizens and the state: The politics of American higher education in the 20th century. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Framed around the three major federal higher education policies of the twentieth century–the 1944 GI Bill, the 1958 National Defense Education Act, and the 1965 Higher Education Act–the book charts the federal government’s various efforts to deploy education to ready citizens for the national, bureaucratized, and increasingly global world in which they lived. Loss details the myriad ways in which academic leaders and students shaped, and were shaped by, the state’s shifting political agenda as it moved from a preoccupation with economic security during the Great Depression, to national security during World War II and the Cold War, to securing the rights of African Americans, women, and other previously marginalized groups during the 1960s and ’70s. Along the way, Loss reappraises the origins of higher education’s current-day diversity regime, the growth of identity group politics, and the privatization of citizenship at the close of the twentieth century. At a time when people’s faith in government and higher education is being sorely tested, this book sheds new light on the close relations between American higher education and politics.

Rose, D. (2018). Citizens by degree: Higher education policy and the changing gender dynamics of American citizenship. Since the mid-twentieth century, the United States has seen a striking shift in the gender dynamics of higher educational attainment as women have come to earn college degrees at higher rates than men. Women have also made significant strides in terms of socioeconomic status and political engagement. What explains the progress that American women have made since the 1960s? While many point to the feminist movement as the critical turning point, this book makes the case that women’s movement toward first-class citizenship has been shaped not only by important societal changes but also by the actions of lawmakers who used a combination of redistributive and regulatory higher education policies to enhance women’s incorporation into their roles as American citizens. Examining the development and impact of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the Higher Education Act of 1965, and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, this book argues that higher education policies represent a crucial-though largely overlooked-factor shaping the progress that women have made. By significantly expanding women’s access to college, they helped to pave the way for women to surpass men as the recipients of bachelor’s degrees, while also empowering them to become more economically independent, socially integrated, politically engaged members of the American citizenry. In addition to helping to bring into greater focus our understanding of how Southern Democrats shaped U.S. social policy development during the mid-twentieth century, this analysis recognizes federal higher education policy as an indispensable component of the American welfare state

Policy Analysis Draft

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Policy Analysis Draft Within the Defense System

College access refers to the amount or type of effort made with the aim of fostering students from high school to pursue higher education. Most of the organizations or individuals associated with such programs help students through encouragement and helping them apply for financial aid. They also provide information on college options, enabling candidates to reach college requirements, and generally promoting college aspirations. Higher education relevance has thoroughly increased in the past decade with a college degree giving holders a higher chance at succeeding in life. Such individuals are war veterans and military members who in addition to serving the country will or have been discharged and need to get professions out of the army.

The United States is fundamentally threatened and shaken by the idea of a future of capitalistic global crisis given its higher education global leadership status. Projections stated that by the year 2018 the country would have needed to fill out an approximate of 46.8 million job openings resulting from vacated and newly created positions. 63% of the 46.8 million jobs required a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or some level of a college education. Failure to educate the future workforce will result in unemployment and reduced spending by consumers. The opportunity found in non-traditional student populations that include the military service members is a viable place to explore to deal with the aforementioned issues.

Apparently, 90% of people enlist to the military without a bachelor’s degree although some having intent of long term careers after their service. The termination of 375,000 armed forces members due to the shrinking of the servicemen on an annual basis gives the higher education move a suitable investment for the affected individuals. Military departments have come up with policies and regulations in an attempt to aid institutions of higher education meet the needs of service members (Kirchner, 2015). The system is balanced and checked by the guidelines and policies by ensuring service men have fair and complete access to colleges. Institutions and colleges are also supposed to be subjective and to be governed by a standard of excellence.

The veteran policies’ efficiency is estimated when they are enacted when the servicemen are still in service in order to ease the transition. The formulated policies have strictly instructed that higher learning institutions to indicate clear and distinct information regarding school attendance requirements, and general educational outcomes while providing support and higher educational academic services for service members and veterans. Institutions are expected to apply criteria for the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges criteria aimed at easing credit transferability. Transfer and sharing of educational assistance is also applicable to the military members’ children and relatives. These laws enforce fair treatment and recruitment of veterans seeking college education. The mentioned policies provide an outlay for institutions to incorporate the appropriate parameters for military educational friendliness

Politics has always found a way of interfering with controversies for political gain and the GI Bill is no exception. Debates that are focused on veteran rights result into larger political battles and end up being irrelevant to the needs of the affected (Ortiz, 2012). The government enforced policies alone are not enough to remedy the constraints resulting from the GI Bill that could affect completion of higher education by servicemen. Most politicians are contacted on the issues pertaining to the GI Bill and contributions made to their campaign to help but once in office, nothing gets done. This implies the political perspective of the bill is mediocre at best and a view change is expected if any improvements are to be done.

Prolonging the issues of GI Bill ensures supporter turnout during the polls of subsequent years for aspirant politicians. Proper representation and power to the organization improves the outlook of the veteran needs and ensures adequate solutions are met. Perception is very important when it comes to organizational structuring and proves successful when it is positively portrayed. Given the tendency of the political atmosphere to alter situations for the personal agenda, incorporating the organizations like human rights activists and high-ranking officials in the military ensures fast racked results to the veterans and servicemen. Politics and serious issues only mix when there is a personal stake for the people in power.

Some of the ethical issues involve departments not making up the difference to student veterans who received less then what was owed to them in checks legally under changes in the GI Bill in 2017. Confidence in the ability of the Veteran Association is threatened by the failure to deliver promised benefits and care to the servicemen. A delay in checks for weeks has been experienced as students got inconvenienced while the housing stipend also got delayed (Borsari et. al, 2015). Apparently, the benefits are applicable only when the servicemen are employed or are part of the military which proves a dilemma for discharged or veteran military men.

The leadership of the Veteran Association requires to solely prioritize the needs of servicemen and champion for reforms within the bill that can benefit everyone involved. It is evident that oversight needs to be done on this organization in order to increase service and promote change in the sector. Joining the GI Bill was a way participants were to get higher education and become contributing members to society. The failure of the Veteran association to hold up its end of the bargain is disheartening for affected parties. Sean Delaire, a veteran states that the whole escapade feels like a betrayal of trust and he is validated to do so.

Military college students undergo uncommon obstacles unlike individuals pursuing a degree. These problems may lead to performance decrease, hinder college program completion ability and delay graduation altogether. Challenges mostly observed include frequent relocation, college integration difficulties, psychological and physical disabilities, and lack of family and social support. Academic efficacy and inevitably outcomes from university outcomes are threatened by unresolved setbacks (Heineman, 2016). Although ratings of universities as military friendly by publications like the New York Times, in-depth understanding is lacking on the level and true definition of military friendliness. There are models instituted to create an ideal framework for the transition of military students.

Schlossberg’s model highlights the need for students to motivation development, sense of control and building support networks. Tailored support is needed in institutions to enhance servicemen student transition. Educators are required to be aware of current services that are offered and create a safe environment for student veterans and service members. There is a spreading stereotypic mindset about veterans that causes issues when it comes to education and equality in the learning environment. By understanding and creating measures of containing the negative effects of segregation, educators create a free and amicable environment for servicemen and veterans to realize their dreams of higher education.

Most military individuals come from working backgrounds thus the money they get from their service is used in higher education purposes. The common belief is that the course or program taken will result in practical experience in the field. Servicemen require that after releasing from the forces that they will find formal work and converge with the civilian workforce through attaining of degrees (Hitt et. al, 2015). Through better communication and course information accessibility, these individuals are able to make the right choice and have an easy transition into the education system.

In the diverse changes experienced in the world, it is a vital requirement that institutions of education particularly higher education, should demonstrate practices aimed at attracting and preparing individuals to seek higher education degree with the aim of meeting future global demands set by employers. The military personnel the world are a pool rich in talent but have problems when it comes to degree completion and ineffective civilian employment preparation. Psychological disabilities have always been the main shortcoming of war veterans and servicemen. Transition into the modern world and the normal routine has always been a cumbersome endeavor. As an academic global community, we should formulate measure that is suitable for military personnel.

Legislative Policy Letter

Senator Mark Parsley

Senate Bldg Room number,

New York, New York,

Dear Senator Mark Parsley,

My formal name is John Perkins. I identify as Veteran activist with the Veteran Association in New York. My reason for writing is in regards to request your aid for the reforms required in the GI Bill review. This review is aimed at assisting our city’ veteran association in the meeting with the new national standards for the Veteran Association described in details in the Consensus Model for Veteran Association (it can be proven by going through the webpage; https://www.benefits.va.gov/). These refurbished changes got formulated by the officials across 48 Veteran Association organizations that are supported by the Veteran Associates in our city. The intent and aim of these changes is to ensure that veterans and servicemen in every part of the United States have the recommended qualifications and benefits of higher learning or college are able to benefit from the GI Bill. This law will ensure that the veterans and servicemen in New York get the optimum higher education standards through the Veteran Association the revised GI Bill will get to provide. In addition, these reviewed standards are to increase acceptability of the GI Bill and is intended to provide access to education.

The Veteran Association includes certified human rights practitioners, Retired veterans, certified registered Law practitioners as well as persons in office of the current administration. VA’S are a highly valued and important part of the Veteran Benefits Association. They also have the necessary expertise and skills to address veteran and servicemen in the absence of any other representatives and can greatly improve access to Higher education systems in remote areas of the city.

Review of the GI Bill will result into changes in service provision which will

• ƒImprove veteran benefits by ensuring that advanced practice registered personnel are to be licensed as VA’s. Currently, our city and community does not require this. This is expected be in addition to the registered veteran association license and is a recommendation in the Consensus Model for Veteran Association Regulation. Licenses would be regulated and issued by the city’s board of Veterans.
• ƒ Establishment of the graduate level of post military education as the required level of academic qualification for veteran association licensing . The graduate level of higher education will require some advanced courses in many areas, including law, an extensive administrative practice course, in order to attain the required graduate degree.
• Make sure that all VA’s have met thoroughly the recommended requirements for advanced education offered from an accredited graduate program. The GI bill requires that all VA education of higher learning programs to go through a board of Veteran Association approval process and be certified and given the go ahead by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Request professional qualification certification for VA licenses. Graduates within higher education qualifications are expected to undertake and successfully pass an important examination in their area of military specification. This inclusive exam is aimed at aiding them to attain entry-level requirements. VA’s are to be held accountable to the professional educational standards that are established by the relevant body in charge, in addition to the city’s Veteran service delivery act.
• Reinvent the overall understanding of who is in charge of veteran educational welfare. The different states acknowledge the VA’s by an array of titles. In New York it got decided to use the title Veteran Association New York Regional Office or VA. This acronym can cause confusion if veterans and servicemen have relocated from state to another where VA’s have a common identifiable acronym. The overall aim is for the title “Veteran Associates” to be incorporated by every state in order to provide a professional identification in the respective states. VA’s are expected to legally present themselves as Veteran Associates, sequenced by their special role.
• Enable VA’s to work and provide services independently. Current city law requires VA’s (Served in the army under period of war, retired or got discharged from the military with honor or under honorable conditions) in order to get help and be attended to. Numerous studies over the past 30 years have indicated VA’s provide adequate aid without administrative or congressional management.

I diligently request that you support the GI Bill review to restore the provision and access of higher education required by servicemen and veterans of New York.

Faithfully,

John Perkins

Veteran Activist

References

Borsari, B., Yurasek, A., Miller, M. B., Murphy, J. G., McDevitt-Murphy, M. E., Martens, M. P., … & Carey, K. B. (2017). Student service members/veterans on campus: Challenges for reintegration. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 87(2), 166.

Heineman, J. A. (2016). Supporting veterans: Creating a “military friendly” community college campus. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 40(3), 219-227.

Hitt, S., Sternberg, M., Wadsworth, S. M., Vaughan, J., Carlson, R., Dansie, E., & Mohrbacher, M. (2015). The higher education landscape for US student service members and veterans in Indiana. Higher Education, 70(3), 535-550.

Kirchner, M. J. (2015). Supporting student veteran transition to college and academic success. Adult Learning, 26(3), 116-123.

Ortiz, S. R. (2012). Veterans’ Policies, Veterans’ Politics: New Perspectives on Veterans in the Modern United States. University Press of Florida.