Should English Majors Pay Less?

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 6, 2024 | Joe Pitts

[karpov]

Institutions of higher education are bracing for a crunch, if they aren’t experiencing one already. Slowing population growth, mounting skepticism of academia, and various other factors have provoked college leaders—at least perceptive ones—to craft novel strategies to navigate these perilous waters. Universities will be increasingly competing for a shrinking pool of customers in the years to come. How these institutions differentiate themselves and win over students will determine their ability to survive in the 21st century.

Universities, like firms in any stagnating market, will need to find new revenue sources or cut costs. There is no other way out of this conundrum. As Beth Akers, an economist studying higher education, has argued, the looming crunch may actually benefit students: “Higher education, the golden child of the movement to advance social mobility, has rested on its laurels and failed to incorporate innovations that will better serve students and our nation.” Necessity is the mother of invention. Declining revenues coupled with fierce competition may be what universities need to slash waste and deliver economic results for students.

In light of such shifts, a growing share of institutions are weighing the adoption of differential tuition (DT) policies. Conceptually, the model is simple. Instead of charging a flat rate for tuition regardless of major area or degree program, universities charge tuition based on the instructional costs of particular areas of study. Mechanical engineering majors, for instance, would likely pay higher tuition than English majors at a university implementing DT.

Universities are adopting DT for several reasons. For one, paying at the program level reduces if not eliminates the cross-subsidization implicit in charging a flat rate for all programs. No longer would lower-cost degree recipients pay a “premium” that partially funds more expensive degree programs. You get what you pay for.

[No name given]

Exactly, along with the mooselimb miscreants.

[x]

No, because then you get more of them.

Colleges have clever and sophisticated ways to support STEM at the expense of the humanities if they choose to use them.

Administrators would just as soon strangle any department that didn’t pay its own way.

[Billthedrill]

I paid lab fees along with my tuition.

Exactly. English majors pay less right now. That isn't the problem. What has ballooned in higher education is the administrations, most of which being due to various government demands. Universities couldn't cut these by themselves if they wanted to - it will require less government participation and the government really doesn't want to.

From Wiki: Administrative staff have increased in number by 88% since 2000 while students and teachers have increased by 8% over the same period.

That's a quarter of a century now. Add government "guarantee" of educational loans influencing universities to charge whatever an essentially limitless market will bear and you have the current mess.

[utax]

Pants - meet load.

[plain talk]

“Mechanical engineering majors, for instance, would likely pay higher tuition than English majors at a university implementing DT.”

You can make a good living with an engineering degree. English major? Not so much.

[T.B. Yoits]

Philosophy is one degree that would be worth paying for. Logic, expansion of your mind, exposing faulty reasoning, etc. - priceless.

There's a reason why public education in particular doesn't teach civics, logic, and philosophy (besides teachers being so bad at it) - the power brokers don't want the peasants to be educated. If too many peasants are educated, the power brokers' whole house of cards collapses.

The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot unlearn the many lies they've been conditioned to believe, and seek out the hidden knowledge that they have been conditioned to reject.

[Fiji Hill]

Much of that should be done in college prep classes at the K12 level.

I read many Great Books in high school--but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I read that many recent Harvard grads never read a single book during their college years.

[Fido969]

Then the professors should be paid less, as well.

[4Liberty]

Good point.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Gee. Based on performance and ethical behavior and “value added by classroom instructions”, I would expect Engineering Majors of ALL disciplines to BE PAID TO GO TO SCHOOL.

Thus, in turn, English and Economics and Political Science and Liberal Arts and Black Laughing Matters and Woman’s Studies and athletes to pay four times MORE.

[citizen]

"Remember that it’s football that pays the bills"...for most of the other collegiate sports.

There, fixed it.

[4Liberty]

[Reily]

and they arrived in college having never read a serious book!

Interestingly enough something similar to that was said about FDR!

[Nailbiter]

interesting thx

[Jacquerie]

Our Framers were liberal arts majors.