Adam Harris, The Atlantic; Here’s How Higher Education Dies
"It’s not a difficult future to imagine—largely because most of it is
already happening. Some institutions will be shielded from the
decline—most obviously the major players and media darlings such as Ivy
League institutions and major public institutions like the University of
Texas at Austin. But most colleges will not be so fortunate, he says.
They will either have to adapt or die out.
Perhaps this is just a
blip driven by declines in the for-profit sector that will correct
itself, or the consequence of a growing economy in which more people
choose jobs over school. More optimistically, maybe higher education as
an enterprise finds a way out of this rut. State legislatures could
reverse course and shift more funding to higher education, though with
the polarized political environment around views of higher education and
its chief purpose, particularly among Republicans, that seems unlikely.
Maybe colleges will wind up taking a proactive approach and innovate
their way out, shifting, as some have already, to serve more adult
students alongside recent high-school graduates, and moving more of
their coursework and programs online to serve a wider audience of
students and reduce campus costs. (Alexander also points out that moving
more programs online could help with international enrollments, as
students wouldn’t have to worry about potential political issues in the
U.S.)"
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