Day 17: The Policy Memo
A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education
For our last assignment of the Block, I asked the students to write a Policy Memo. The assignment was simple and fun.
Write a policy memo to some important decision-maker at the college to try to convince them to make one change next year.
It can be any decision-maker (e.g. Chair of the Board of Trustees, Interim President of the College, Dean of the Faculty, COO, Chair of the Economics and Business Department, Chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, etc.).
You can make the case for any change.
You must use some piece of data or evidence you learned because of this class.
Your memo must include at least one table or figure but no more than two. The table or figure should be pretty (well titled, axes labeled, good color scheme, good title or figure note, etc.).
The memo should be two pages, including tables and figures.
On the last day of class, the students each brought a printed copy of their memo, we sat in a circle, and all read each one. We each voted for our top 5 favorite memos, and I passed on the top vote getters to the relevant policy maker.
What did the students suggest? Lots of interesting and different ideas.
Improve the first-year advising system with more specific training for advisors
Improve the first-year advising system with AI
Move the dining operation in-house (we currently contract it out)
Reduce the residency requirement to two years
Add an AI minor
Change the policies around tuition and credit for study abroad to make it more affordable and transferable
Make a “free” Block Abroad program (incorporate the cost into tuition so students and families don’t have to budget for it, and the regular financial aid and cross-subsidization systems adjust the costs across income brackets)
Add a service learning requirement
Change the Economics and Business capstone requirement to be part internship
Make Men’s basketball a DII program so we can save money on travel and compete with UCCS up the street
Reform the Colorado College Colorado Pledge so it doesn’t have sharp cutoffs
Improve the Career Center with better alumni networking
Change Homecoming Weekend programming to be more interest group specific
Use AI to improve donor engagement and relations
We shall see if the policy makers who received our memos make any changes based on the suggestions from this class!
Next up: my last post about this class. I’ll review what I learned about the Economics of Higher Education, what the students liked and didn’t like, what I’ll change next year, and what I learned by writing this Substack series. Stay tuned!