Audit report on the Iowa Federal Family Education Loan Program Division, a Division of the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, for the year ended June 30, 2011

Audit report on the Iowa Federal Family Education Loan Program Division, a Division of the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, for the year ended June 30, 2011

Blood donor motivation: what is ethical? What works?

The retention of previous donors and the recruitment of new donors is a serious challenge for many blood donation services in their effort to prevent blood shortages. More and more services make use of some sort of donation incentives. However, the use of (material) incentives to motivate blood donors is fiercely controversial and there is a longstanding (ethical) debate about whether it should be allowed that donors receive material rewards. Interestingly, this debate is dealt with in almost complete absence of systematic empirical evidence on the effectiveness of material incentives in encouraging people to donate. In this paper, we argue that the discussion on what is ethical in motivating blood donors should be enriched with empirical evidence based on field experiments. We confront the Titmuss controversy with recent results from an experiment administering lottery tickets as a motivation device. Moreover, we take up a neglected phenomenon in the study of blood donors: many non-donors are not principally against donating blood they have just never made up their mind about becoming active blood donors. We propose active decisions as a mechanism to transform latent prosocial preferences into actual prosocial behavior.

Putting Public Service Motivation into Context. A Balance Between Universalism and Particularism

Research on Public Service Motivation (PSM) has increased enormously in the last 20 years. Besides the analysis of the antecedents of PSM and its impact on organizations and individuals, many open questions about the nature of PSM itself still remain. This article argues that the theoretical construct of PSM should be contextualized by integrating the political and administrative contexts of public servants when investigating their specific attitudes towards working in a public environment. It also challenges the efficacy of the classic four-dimensional structure of PSM when it is applied to a specific context. The findings of a confirmatory factor analysis from a dataset of 3754 employees of 279 Swiss municipalities support the appropriateness of contextualizing parts of the PSM construct. They also support the addition of an extra dimension called, according to previous research, Swiss democratic governance. With regard to our results, there is a need for further PSM research to set a definite measure of PSM, particularly in regard to the international diffusion of empirical research on PSM.Points for practitionersThis study shows that public service motivation is a relevant construct for practitioners and may be used to better assess whether public agents are motivated by values or not. Nevertheless, it stresses also that the measurement of PSM must be adapted to the institutional context as well. Public managers interested in understanding better the degree to which their employees are motivated by public values must be aware that the measurement of this PSM construct has to be contextualized. In other words, PSM is also a function of the institutional environment in which organizations operate.

Stability of repeated student evaluations of teaching in the second preclinical year of a medical curriculum

RESUME L'étude de la médecine à la Faculté de l'Université de Lausanne est un cursus de six ans. Depuis la réforme générale du curriculum en octobre 1995, le programme de la deuxième année consacrée à l'étude de l'être humain sain a été transformé. L'enseignement intégré par système ou organe a été introduit en remplaçant l'enseignement par discipline. Parallèlement, un système d'évaluation de l'enseignement par les étudiants a été proposé. Il a été amélioré au fil des années et depuis l'année académique 1998-99, l'évaluation est devenue systémique et régulière. Notre étude présente et compare les résultats des évaluations de l'enseignement et des enseignants de neuf cours intégrés dispensés en deuxième année durant deux années académiques (1998-99 et 1999-2000). Une forte corrélation entre les résultats des deux années consécutives ainsi qu'une importante disparité des estimations à l'intérieure de chacune de deux années ont été observées. Ceci démontre un engagement sérieux des étudiants dans le processus d'évaluation, révèle la pertinence de leur analyse et leur bonne capacité de discernement. L'analyse de nos résultats montre que les évaluations effectuées par les étudiants peuvent constituer une source fiable d'informations et contribuer à l'amélioration du processus d'enseignement.

Report on the Iowa College Student Aid Commission for the year ended June 30, 2011

Report on the Iowa College Student Aid Commission for the year ended June 30, 2011

Iowa College Student Aid Commission Annual Report FY 2011

Iowa College Aid connects students and families to the essential resources and services needed to go to college. Staff is available every step of the way to help students plan, prepare, and pay for college. On behalf of the State of Iowa and the General Assembly, Iowa College Aid supports students and families with scholarships, grants, loan forgiveness, informational resources and a range of services that help Iowans prepare for college, as well as assist student loan borrowers through the repayment process.

Iowa College Student Aid Commission Annual Report FY 2010

Fiscal Year 2010 proved to be a year of many challenges. While the nation and the state dealt with an unprecedented economic downturn, a growing number of Iowa families sought assistance to pay higher education costs. The year saw Iowa’s unemployment rate soar to a 23-year high, contributing to a 22 percent increase in enrollment at Iowa’s colleges and universities. An increasing number of Iowans applied for financial aid to pay for college as evidenced by a 47 percent increase in the number of Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completed over the past 5 years. The economic downturn also forced the State to make a 10 percent reduction in all general fund appropriations which reduced the total amount of state-funded financial aid available to assist families.

Iowa Community Colleges Student Enrollment Report, December 2000

The Iowa community colleges transmit the Fall 2000 enrollments to the Department of Education after the 14th day of the fall term start date. All data in this report, except where noted, are taken from the Management Information System (MIS) electronic data files and are confirmed by the community college transmittal sheet. The Fall 2000 unduplicated credit headcount enrollment of 65,473 demonstrates an increase of 3 percent over Fall 1999 enrollment of 63,809.

Iowa Community Colleges Student Enrollment Report, December 2000

Fall enrollment grew 1.2 percent to a record high of 88,104 unduplicated students in fiscal year 2009 (Table 1). College enrollment has grown for 11 consecutive years since enrollment slipped in fiscal year 1997. In the 44‐year history of the modern community college system, enrollment has only fallen four times (Figure 1). Enrollment growth was slightly slower than prior years. In 2006, enrollment grew over three percent, while enrollment grew 2.5 percent last year. Nevertheless, enrollment growth is outpacing the projected nationwide growth in community colleges (Hussar and Bailey, 2008: Table 16). For the second consecutive year, part‐time enrollment exceeded full‐time enrollment. Slightly over half, 50.9 percent, of students are enrolled in less than 12 credit hours. Last year, part‐time enrollment exceeded full‐time enrollment for the first time. The shift represents growing enrollment by working students and joint enrollment— high school students who enroll in community colleges.. Nationally, part‐time enrollment at public two‐year colleges has exceeded full‐time enrollment for more than 15 years. In 2006, part‐time students exceeded full‐time students by 60 percent (Hussar and Bailey, 2008: Table 16). Iowa’s enrollment growth has traditionally been consistent. Enrollment decreased four times—1976, 1983, 1984, and 1997—during the entire 44‐year history. Fulltime enrollment decreased nine times over the same period while part time enrollment only fell twice. The remainder of this report will break down credit enrollment by credit hours, student demographics, the programs in which students are enrolled, how the programs break down demographically, and joint enrollment.

Iowa Community Colleges Student Enrollment Report, December 2007

Iowa Community Colleges transmit fall enrollment data to the Department of Education after the 14th day of the fall term start date. All data included in this report, except where noted, are taken from the Management Information System (MIS) electronic data files and are confirmed by the community college.

Iowa Community Colleges Student Fall Enrollment Report, December 2009

Iowa Community Colleges transmit fall enrollment data to the Department of Education after the 14th day of the fall term start date. All data included in this report, except where noted, are taken from the Management Information System (MIS) electronic data files and are confirmed by the community college.