A Bachelor’s Degree for $10K? Yes, We Can

Pajamas Media ^ | February 23, 2011 | Publius Audax

[decimon]

In his recent State of the State address, Texas Governor Rick Perry called for the state’s universities to begin offering a bachelor’s degree with a total cost (including tuition, fees, and textbooks) of only $10,000, in contrast to the current $26,800 to $45,300. If we include the cost to taxpayers, the total bill (at UT-Austin) runs to at least $95,000.

Can we really reduce that cost by nearly 90%, while maintaining or even improving quality? Yes, we can, if we do two things: intelligently exploit the huge economies of scale in higher education in Texas, with 950,000 students in college; and take full advantage of technology.

Students in our state universities spend most of their academic careers in large lecture courses. The word “lecture” dates from the Middle Ages, meaning “reading.” In the days before the printing press, when books were rare, it made sense for students to fill lecture halls so they could hear their teachers read aloud — this standard operating procedure of higher education is now 500 years old. With the availability of high-speed streaming, downloading, and wifi, the old methods make less and less sense.

At our state universities, there are as many as 100 different bachelor’s programs available, from Portuguese to textiles and apparels. There are few required classes in most majors: instead each university offers thousands of electives, each course being designed and delivered by individual faculty on an ad hoc basis. The vast cafeteria of offerings generates the need for thousands of different textbook titles, burdening students with hundreds of dollars of additional expense.

[squarebarb]

This thread is going on forever! Hey being fluent in Spammish is not easy but it’s an on-line degree!

[meyer]

It can be done, and should. Schools today are all about the instructors rather than the students. They’re all about sitting in a classroom getting indoctrinated in the latest liberal fad (like ‘diversity’ and ‘global warming’) rather than obtaining useful knowledge and practicing the ability to think for ones’ self.

Much, though not all, of today’s college courses could be taught online for a fraction of the cost of “brick and mortar” style instruction.

It’s time to break up the accrediting agency monopoly as well. Imagine getting rid of the mandatory “fluff” that occupies much of the student’s courseload and replacing it with hard knowledge. Teaching students to actually think for themselves instead of teaching them how to be street demonstrators, or injecting their minds with leftist drivel as if it were fact. An accrediting system that focuses on the core subject material instead of the latest liberal fad would be an instant success for businesses wanting to hire bright, self-starting, productive employees.

[decimon]

I have a notion that every institution goes bad over time. In the case of our government it’s a matter of having gone off track. In the case of education it’s a matter of having stagnated in an outmoded system. Government should have changed far less and education should have changed far more.