U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States & WICHE
Working Together to Boost Higher Education Access and Success
 

  • Since 2012 U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States has been a member of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), a 16-state commission working to boost access to higher education for students in the West and, as importantly, to ensure their success.

    The U.S. Pacific territories and freely associated states became the 16th member of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) in December 2012. This group of U.S. territories and island states will work with WICHE to boost access to higher education for their students, and for all students in the West – and as importantly, to ensure their success. WICHE’s latest member includes three U.S. Pacific territories – American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and Guam – and three freely associated states – Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. They join as a single member, with each territory and state electing individually to participate actively in the commission when it sees fit.

    The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is the first of the group to participate. It has appointed three commissioners to the WICHE Commission and will benefit from membership in a number of ways. It will participate in WICHE’s Student Exchange Program, which allows students from WICHE member states and territories to enroll in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in other member states and territories at deep discounts. Initially, CNMI will participate in two SEP initiatives, the Western Undergraduate Exchange and the Western Regional Graduate Program. In addition, CNMI will benefit from WICHE’s other programs.

    WICHE Programs

    WICHE Programs WICHE’s programs – Student Exchange, Policy Analysis and Research, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), and the Mental Health Program – are working to find answers to some of the most critical questions facing higher education today. The Student Exchange Program (SEP) provides students with access to out-of-state higher education options, along with significant tuition savings. Over 32,700 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs outside their home states through SEP, saving $264.5 million in 2012-13. In WICHE’s Western Undergraduate Exchange, students pay no more than 150 percent of the receiving school’s resident tuition, substantially less than standard nonresident tuition. Through the Western Regional Graduate Program, over 1,000 students are enrolled in 275 distinctive graduate programs at 52 institutions. Nearly 15,000 professionals have received home state support when enrolled in programs in another Western state through Pacific Territories & States and WICHE 2 the Professional Student Exchange Program. And WICHE’s Internet Course Exchange, an alliance of member institutions and systems, broadens student access to online courses and programs.

    WICHE’s Policy Analysis and Research unit supporting better-informed decision making at the state level. WICHE initiatives have been sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lumina Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and others. WICHE policy experts often visit members to present or consult on vital issues, including workforce needs, financial aid policy development, governance, and performance funding. WICHE also offers policy and information resources that support better-informed decision making at the state level.

    The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) is a cooperative whose members work to accelerate the adoption of effective practices and policies to advance excellence in technologyenhanced teaching and learning in higher education. WCET members have access to trusted information on emerging trends, policies, and exemplars of successful learning technology innovation in practice. WCET also manages multi-institutional projects, including one on large-scale student data aggregation and predictive analytics to improve student outcomes.

    A nucleus for researching mental health policy and a provider of technical assistance in such areas as service innovation, system reform, workforce development, program evaluation, and other areas, WICHE’s Mental Health Program (MHP) is another well-used resource. The program works with the public mental health systems of the West, higher education, mental health practitioners and administrators, and consumers and family members to improve training in mental health, expand public mental health resources. The MHP is currently working with Guam on a transformation transfer initiative, a workforce development project focused to mental health training.