1. College: pay if you pass the course
“In the new Global Freshman Academy, each credit will cost $200, but students will not have to pay until they pass the courses, which will be offered on the edX platform as MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses… ‘Leave your G.P.A., your SATs, your recommendations at home,’ said Anant Agarwal, the chief executive of edX. ‘If you have the will to learn, just bring your Internet connection and yourself, and you can get a year of college credit.'”
“Yet the new research is a reminder that the country also underinvests in enrolling students in four-year colleges — and making sure they graduate. Millions of people with the ability to earn a bachelor’s degree are not doing so, and many would benefit greatly from it.”
“The most revolutionary part of the program had nothing to do with tuition and got far less media attention. In their announcement, Starbucks and Arizona State also committed themselves to providing all enrolled employees with individualized guidance—the kind of thing affluent American parents and elite universities provide for their students as a matter of course. Starbucks students would each be assigned an enrollment counselor, a financial-aid adviser, an academic adviser, and a ‘success coach’—a veritable pit crew of helpers. Like a growing number of innovative colleges around the country, Starbucks and Arizona State were promising to prioritize the needs of real-life students over the traditions of academia.”
And all the advisors have to be paid and the money will have to come from someone’s tuition or someone’s cup of coffee? Yes, the first generation students need this kind of help but the state does not pay (more taxes?) so institutions pass the cost. It is a form of distribution but it is becoming irksome since it is not upfront, We worry about the high cost of college. Most of it comes from providing services and facilities that were never provided in the past. At my institution I have seen these administrative/support costs increase hugely to the point that we are struggling to survive. We need more lawyers, too, because of all the potential lawsuits, and more policemen and more advisors and support staff. And the regulations keep our finance and administrative office busy. They are good regulations, for the most part, at least well meaning, but they do come at a cost. During my years as an academic administrator, I saw the institutional research and support office (call it what you will but this is the office that helps us comply with regs) moved from zero to 3 and it is now acutely short-staffed. And all students expect air-conditioned and upscale facilities including gyms and lounges in residence halls. And since recruitment for paying students is so competitive, we have to provide them. My private institution is 7 million in deficit and let me tell you we are frugal. The faculty and most of the staff are paid rather low. But we have to provide huge financial aid to get out students–especially the first generation students. We deeply care about them and want to do everything to make them succeed but the present educational model cannot survive: too much is asked for on both ends: the affluent, high-ranking students, and the poor students who cannot afford us but need a place like us (not a campus of thousands, including Arizona State, where the likelihood of getting through and actually learning is more remote.
So go figure. Pondering may not help.
Renu
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