Posted on 04/23/2020 6:10:53 AM PDT by billorites
Southern New Hampshire University, known for being on the cutting edge of collegiate learning, plans to slash tuition for incoming freshmen as it drastically revamps how it conducts on-campus learning beginning in the fall.
As part of the changes, tuition will be cut 61%, from $31,000 to $10,000 starting in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Under the plan, incoming freshmen and transfer students with freshman standing will receive full tuition scholarships for the first year. The scholarships, which will be available to 1,050 on a first-come, first-served basis, won’t include the cost of room and board.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, the university accelerated a three-year plan to develop new campus-based models to reduce tuition, according to an announcement Wednesday.
SNHU President Paul LeBlanc said the university knew traditional college education was becoming “increasingly out of reach for a majority of Americans” before the pandemic hit.
“We have run all sorts of pilots and new pathways, so we’ve learned a lot and now it’s really on us to kind of distill all that learning and see if we can offer students an interesting range of more affordable options,” he said in an interview with the Union Leader.
Colleges and universities across the country have scrambled to come up with plans to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities.
“Many institutions are looking at freezing tuition, others are looking at cutting it or allowing students to defer payment for a year on tuition costs for the upcoming academic year,” she said. “Others are going ahead and saying, ‘We need to continue with our planned increase in tuition because we know that we’ll have fewer tuition dollars as a result of the decline in enrollment.’”
Most institutions are looking at long-term solutions for costs associated with higher education, she said. She applauded SNHU’s plan.
“I think that is a model for other institutions as we look at the economic recession and the fact that over the last month 22 million people have filed for unemployment and education will be more critical than ever,” she said. “We have to look at the ways that we can safeguard access to excellence in higher education for those who are already the most underserved.”
Under the SNHU plan, for the first year incoming freshmen will take their courses online with learning support while living on campus and participating in all campus clubs, activities, athletics and other experiences.
“They get this kind of hybrid for the first year, while we figure out what the new models look like,” LeBlanc said. “This is not what they were signing up for when they applied to us, so recognizing that, we’re covering the full cost of the first year for them, so it is risk-free.”
After the first year, their tuition will rise to $10,000 a year under a learning model that will be developed over the next 18 months.
Among the models could be all courses online, all courses online with face-to-face support from faculty, and a project-based model with learning coaches and other academic support, according to the university.
The new tuition model will be comparable to its online programs. The university will refund deposits to students not interested in the change.
LeBlanc said high school juniors and seniors need the change now.
“They don’t have three years,” LeBlanc said. “We think we are going to see enormous financial distress, and we need to come up with new models. ”
LeBlanc wouldn’t go as far as to say there will be no classrooms or lectures in the future.
“It won’t be that the campus will be different, but how we use the campus will be different,” he said.
The university has a contractual agreement with returning students to finish their programs. The tuition will stay the same for those students, but they will have a chance to apply for hardships, LeBlanc said.
Wednesday morning’s announcement was positively received.
“In just two hours, we had more deposits come in than we had all of last week and a lot of tearful expressions of gratitude,” LeBlanc said. “It reaffirmed what we thought — that people are hurting right now and really fearful about their ability to send their children to college.”
Amelia Manning, SNHU’s chief operating officer, said the new tuition rate makes SNHU more affordable than many public colleges and “almost all private institutions.”
“At a time when the average tuition at a private institution is $36,000, we have to remind ourselves that higher education is still our most powerful tool for social mobility, but only if it can again be within financial reach of those who need it most,” she said in a statement.
Students will be able to use financial aid for room and board. The university hopes to address the total cost of room and board through possible changes in term structure and using “earn while you learn” models.
Campus housing costs between $9,000 and $11,000, according to the university’s website.
“I often say that SNHU is in the business of hope,” LeBlanc said in a statement. “Taking these bold actions now will allow us to keep that hope and the American Dream alive for the next generation of learners. They’re counting on us.”
I have few heroes in higher education. The SNHU president, Paul LeBlanc, is one of them.
I agree. As it is, most of these lower-tier colleges provide only a thimble of academic work and learning. Maybe they get some sort of trade credential out of it, but they are unlikely to graduate with more than a junior high level of math and English skills, historical understanding and abstract thinking.
Didn’t mean to offend. I lived in Boston for several years and I have never heard of SNHU.
If this pandemic does anything, cleaning out academia might be the best thing to come out of it.
Do they have their “sexual preferences” online?
The school dates from 1932 when it was the New Hampshire Accounting and Secretarial School. It's had the benefit of excellent leadership in recent years under the current president.
I like to think of mine more as "predilections."
we are experiencing proof that large campuses are unnecessary. Much of school including college can be done at home or a distance.
Unfortunately liberal faculties and unions control education no matter white’s best for the kids.
Athletes can play for town teams and then go into the majors. Schools don’t need those large facilities and 30 sports teams.
Libraries can be online.
Yep, the poor man’s Harvard.
The beauty of "online" education is that one professor who is among the best in his field can replace all other professors who aren't online. Once the internet takes over education, masses of teachers, administrators, and supervisors are going to be looking for work. The smart ones will find a living as tutors to students needing a boost.
AGREED
So renamed. Maybe that’s why I haven’t recognized the name. Best wishes to you for a successful career.
A friend of mine got her Undergrad and MBA through their online programs. She was always smart as a young woman and very motivated. She’s leveraged that into a great career.
I worked for their Athletic Department as a contractor for ten years. They always struck me as a sharp organization.
And THAT will be the free college the government supplies in the future. I am fine with that. Have local facilities that provide labs and the required hands on situations.
If you want professors to be rock stars....that’s how you will do it. Also, you could pay them like rock stars.
There was nothing in my first two years that needed to be taught on site.
But...kids don’t want free college. They want the college experience. And they won’t get that “on line.”
Harvard is legendary for the quality of its graduates, but not is the same way as City College.
Quite a few retired military in upper management. Everyone's called "Colonel".
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