Posted on 01/29/2013 8:03:39 AM PST by MichCapCon
With a surplus of middle-tier state universities offering four-year degrees whose value is coming under increasing scrutiny by students and families, Michigan is ripe for a revolution described by an article in the current American Interest online, “The End of the University as We Know It” by Nathan Harden.
If it hasn't already, this broad overview of a higher education system on the cusp of a transformation brought about by online learning should be sending chills up the spines of high-paid university presidents and their legions of administrators.
"The higher-ed business is in for a lot of pain as a new era of creative destruction produces a merciless shakeout of those institutions that adapt and prosper from those that stall and die," Harden writes. "Meanwhile, students themselves are in for a golden age, characterized by near-universal access to the highest quality teaching and scholarship at a minimal cost."
Some of the same forces pushing this revolution are already impacting university bottom lines and "pricing power," according to a new Moody's study reported by The Wall Street Journal:
For the (current) fiscal year, 18% of 165 private universities and 15% of 127 public universities project a decline in net tuition revenue… Nearly half of the schools surveyed by Moody's reported enrollment declines this fall, though overall median enrollment remained relatively flat from the previous year… Moody's also attributed the enrollment decline at some public universities to a ‘heightened scrutiny of the value of higher education’ after years of tuition increases and stagnating family income. Legislators had better start paying attention, because like the implosion of the housing bubble, the higher ed one is all but certain to have an impact on future budgets.
While elite institutions like the University of Michigan are in a better position to navigate the transition, schools like Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Ferris State University and the rest of Michigan’s smaller state universities may be in deep trouble. Their massive overhangs of debt and underfunded employee pension promises are all but certain to bite taxpayers here as students and families increasingly discover alternative ways to acquire both learning and marketable credentials at a fraction of the cost of a residential college.
As Harden puts it:
(T)hose middle-tier universities that have spent the past few decades spending tens or even hundreds of millions to offer students the Disneyland for Geeks experience are going to find themselves in real trouble. Along with luxury dorms and dining halls, vast athletic facilities, state of the art game rooms, theaters and student centers have come layers of staff and non-teaching administrators, all of which drives up the cost of the college degree without enhancing student learning. The biggest mistake a non-ultra-elite university could make today is to spend lavishly to expand its physical space. Buying large swaths of land and erecting vast new buildings is an investment in the past, not the future.(Emphasis added) Recent actions show that Michigan’s Legislature has been less than far-sighted in this regard.
2012 House Bill 5541: Appropriations: Borrow and spend $613 million on state university construction projects, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder on June 25, 2012.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No” in the House
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No” in the Senate
Don’t expect leadership from this state’s bloated, multi-billion dollar higher-ed establishment, either.
Says Harden, “The biggest obstacle to the rapid adoption of low-cost, open-source education in America is that many of the stakeholders make a very handsome living off the system as is.”
So basically we will end up with Ivy League and Top State Schools like Penn State to chose from and the small and middle Universities will close. Sounds good to me. I think they should be much more selective in choosing students and only a percentage of say 20 percent of the students should go to college. In the LONG run this will be an improvement over the current situation where college is deems to be the saving grace of success which is more and more not becoming to truth. We must stop looking down on those students who decide not to go to college. Look I have an MBA and would NEVER look poorly on a person who chose a profession that gets their hands dirty. It is just arrogant and quite frankly stupid.
Every profession should devalue diplomas and place the emphasis on what knowledge you actually have. Let an employer or a group of employers pick the test they want to administer or recognize and then have that be the benchmark. Much like engineering, medical boards, and the various BAR exams.
Overpriced universities would quickly loose the draw.
I have one thing to say about Universities and their losing all of that Government student loan money that used to be easy.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha
Support your Community Colleges.
If people would stop and do a cost to benefit analysis, a lot of them would say it isn’t worth it. Let alone all those that have college loan debt but no degree because they figured out after a year or two that college wasn’t for them! Many kids just go to college because it’s what their parents want rather than what they want. Once they are on their own, they say “screw it” (no, not a frat or sorority joke there...lol) and leave school.
When a parent tells me that their kid is going to trade school or an apprenticeship, I make sure I am as genuinely excited for them as I would be if they told me their kid was going to Hahvahd, Yale, or a State school.
Cost? Free - but I am going to buy the textbook for future reference.
The ultimate end of all corrupt systems.
YEP...what you said. My son did about 2 quarters at a community college and did fine, but hated it. (I have college degrees). So....my husband and I ended up using any potential “college money” to buy his bonding for his construction business. He has done well.
Check out wgu.edu.
This is no different from the housing bubble - fueled by Gov’t money and mandates and a public who is duped into believing it is “must have” and “the value can never go down.”
There is A LOT of fat to be cut in higher education. I can’t wait to see the SHTF.
I’m happy to say my kid is applying @ Hillsdale later this year. There is no under-value at that university.
Have also taken numerous of the MIT OpenCourseWare courses. Prof Lewin makes physics easy and fun.
The “Big Education” cycle greatly benefits liberals.
I think it will be around for a long time.
1)make unlimited loans available to students
2)inflate school prices sufficient to absorb loan funds
3)pay profs and admins inflated salaries
4)profs and admins donate to Democrats
and repeat.....
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