Dr. Raynor teaches finance at the State University of New York at Delhi, and is periodically a visiting professor at Universidad Catholica Santo Toribio De Mogrovejo in Peru. He has worked on a number of projects in other areas of Latin America, and was also a visiting professor in China. He is especially interested in international trade and labor issues, and has previous private sector experience in the banking industry.

Recently, there has been a great deal of attention regarding college rankings and the quality and cost of higher education. Much of the controversy has surrounded the ranking methodology used by US News & World Report, which to which many colleges object. However, the free market system could be poised to provide needed clarification in this area.

While colleges attempt to better determine the value of their degrees, justify tuition costs, etc, market forces might be moving ahead in unanticipated ways. Intel may have begun a sea-change in this debate when they decided not to pay tuition reimbursement to employees attending schools they determined to be inadequate. This includes the University of Phoenix, which is the largest private university in the nation with regional accreditation.

The Intel decision is significant for higher education in a number of ways. First, an on-line course provider that uses considerable technology was not acceptable to such a high tech firm. Second, Intel's own internal research found career setbacks for employees who attended sub-par schools vs. employees that attended the better ones. Thus, it was Intel that drew a line on what was acceptable academic standards, not the academic profession. This is much different than the current norm where many employers take the word of an educational institution and their accreditator that academic standards are sufficient. A recent BNWW article provides more details on inadequate college research to assess programs and guide major decisions.

Furthermore, it did not matter to Intel that their employees were attending an institution that had regional accreditation through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. North Central is one of the major regional accreditation bodies in the United States and is recognized by the government. This too, has profound implications for self-regulation, institutional rankings, etc., in the academic community.

Through the accreditation process, North Central and other regional accreditation bodies give their "seal of approval" that an institution is not a degree-mill and meets minimum academic standards. Often, this type of assurance is good enough for many students and the employers that hire them. When Intel made the determination that this assurance was not good enough, they set new internal standards that were considerably higher. If more firms in the private sector also do their own internal research, and also conclude that the regional accreditation "seal of approval" lacks significance, change will be inevitable. Regional accreditators will have to implement tougher standards to be relevant. In turn, many academic institutions that seem adequate now also will have to meet those higher accreditation standards. Students, after all, will not pay to earn a degree that has marginal value, or is not recognized by the private employment sector, even if it is granted by an accredited instiitution.

It may be difficult to rank colleges and determine just how much a degree from a given institution is worth. It may also be difficult to measure how much a student has learned from a specific course or program. But the Intel decision expedited the process in a new way, and was an important milestone for assessment in academia.

Both the Savings and Loan problem nearly 20 years ago and the corporate scandals earlier this decade showed how under-prepared many individuals in the finance and accounting professions were. This brought needed professional changes and adjustments to college curricula. Now, the private sector may be acting ahead of potential problem areas by insisting that academic programs be top-notch and deliver value. If nothing else, firms like Intel, with their research-backed approval lists, may steer individuals toward certain educational providers by a process of elimination.

Dr. Raynor is a finance professor at the State University of New York at Delhi and a 2007-08 member of the Association for Institutional Research