Are We Near The End of Today’s College and University System?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Long story short, there are powerful, entrenched interests committed to maintaining the currently profitable structure of colleges and universities. Change will not happen until students (and parents) en masse demand accountability and results, and then stop enrolling. Joe Nocera in the New York Times makes some good points about the current problems of American (we can include global, since other countries mimic the American system to a large degree) higher education:

Joe Nocera: College for a New Age

As stated on this site previously, there are only three things that a college/university needs: great teachers, great students and great resources (labs, digital library, art supplies, etc.). The rest is superfluous, yet students pay a fortune for the tremendous waste of administrators and staff assigned to athletics, curriculum assessment, marketing, public relations, diversity, etc. Many of these separate offices and administrative functions could be greatly streamlined and reduced to a faculty service role, saving a ton of money in student tuition. Faculty governance is supposed to be the bedrock of American higher education anyway, so let’s do away with the administrators and stick them back in the classrooms (if they can teach well).

Nocera hits at the usual suspects:
1) Bloated and wasteful athletic programs that have nothing to do with the educational mission of a college/university. Replace them with intramural athletic programs that are great for students, faculty and staff to interact and exercise. There is no reason to maintain the myriad number of teams, coaches, staff, travel expenses, scholarships and facilities required for NCAA sports. Athletics is the single biggest waste of money on campus, and should be cut down to intramural programs that benefit the entire community socially and physically.
2) Universities (and colleges to a lesser degree) emphasize research over teaching, but what students really want is great teachers that inspire, educate and mentor them. Most students care little (if at all) if their professor publishes in a first-rate journal; they just want a great communicator who cares about their learning, and knows how to teach. Yet teaching is devalued by the university, and professors who concentrate on teaching are looked upon with suspicion as intellectual dilettantes who only want to be popular with students.

Where Nocera misses the plot is believing online classes and degrees will replace “real life” classes and institutions. A big part of the college experience is the social community that is formed with fellow students, and sometimes professors. It’s just not the same sitting at home behind a computer to get this invaluable experience and contacts. Steve Ballmer became President of Microsoft by hanging out with Bill Gates at Harvard playing poker late at night. Unless telepresence makes huge technological breakthroughs in the near future, these kinds of friendships and networks just won’t form in online classes. Colleges and universities are about more than hitting the books. Friendships, experiences and interests are made that can last a lifetime. Learning face-to-face with peers and professors is a more effective learning environment than posting comments in a discussion board and reading assigned texts alone. The virtual cannot replace the real in education.

As for those powerful, entrenched interests preventing any meaningful change in higher education, that will be the subject of another post…

Most Private Colleges and Universities Not Worth the Cost

Another private college closing soon in the US:

Sweet Briar College to Close

With tuition approaching $35,000 plus another $12,000 for room and board, the cost versus benefits of a private college/university (that is not an Ivy) is just not worth it. Yes, many of these private institutions offer 50% “scholarships” to almost every student in a somewhat dishonest marketing ploy to attract students who feel proud to receive a “scholarship,” but even that is no longer enough to attract potential students in such a tough job market. In other words, $17,000 tuition plus $12,000 for room and board is still a lot of money. That’s about $30,000 per year (not including all the other ancillary expenses of life) over four (maybe five) years to get “credentialed” in a starting job that pays on average $40,000 per year with long hours and little job security. And, of course, many graduates cannot find any salaried jobs at all, and taking hourly wage work that they didn’t really need a higher education degree for in the first place. It’s finally coming to the point that young people and their parents are asking the question: “Is the high expense worth the cost?” Short answer: In most cases, it’s not.

Unless you’re going to an Ivy League or a Stanford, MIT, Chicago, and perhaps a few other truly elite private institutions, the so-called prestige of a private university degree is just not worth it. Small liberal arts colleges like Oberlin, Swarthmore, Williams, etc. are indeed excellent higher education institutions that are committed to teaching (which is what most undergraduates care about most: great teachers) but most employers and the general public have little clue about these schools. They might as well be Sweet Briar College or some other small failing institution in the minds of most people, and they have little prestige outside the rarefied air of people who read the New Yorker and Atlantic magazines. Yes, you do receive a great education there, but don’t kid yourself that the “prestige” of the name is going to be some magic ticket to a great job after you graduate. It’s not.

Receiving a great education can’t be said for the myriad other small colleges that dot the country with little to justify their high price tag. In the New York City area, there are around a dozen small Catholic affiliated colleges that charge high tuition but have no prestige (ignore the phony public relations spiel they print in glossy brochures and websites) and nothing to differentiate themselves to justify the cost. Students of middling means would be better offer in almost every case going to City University of New York or State University of New York, and actually get a better education (the public institutions attract much better faculty with higher pay, excellent benefits and pensions) while saving a ton of money. It is completely irrational to go to these small colleges when there is a clearly superior, inexpensive alternative available, unless one has wealthy parents footing the bill or you don’t mind taking out huge loans (just don’t complain later when you have to pay them back). Don’t get lured into the false prestige game as aprivate college degree is not going to give you a leg up in the job hunt when compared to your public college competition.

Remember that a great school requires three things: great teachers, great students and great educational resources (labs, art materials, library, etc.). That’s what you should look for when choosing a school. The rest of it is fluff, but you pay a high price for the fluff and that will be the topic of a future post.