Three Things You KeepTelling Me That I and Everyone Else Already Know


Higher education in America spends way too much time rehashing new data and coming up with old conclusions.  Here is a partial greatest hits list from the last six months:

1.     Students have changed.  This presents challenges.

Really?  No one noticed that adult and first generation students have been a major issue for higher education since the 70’s?  And even before that, the whole idea of the GI Bill was to provide higher education opportunities to our returning veterans.  Eighteen-year-old high school graduates haven’t been the bread and butter of higher education for decades.

2.     Non-traditional students have different needs than traditional students.

See 1 above.  Some forward-looking institutions, University of Phoenix, for example, have been tailoring course content and formats to non-traditional students.  Of course, one must ask if we can still call students “non-traditional” even if they are in the majority.

3.     The current business model for higher education in America is not sustainable.


Early on in this blog I discuss the need to bring higher education into line with the rest of society in a variety of ways.  Getting a viable business model is number one on the list.  Higher education continues to debate and discuss the current model, even as the state and federal contributions to higher education dry up and tuition increases at an unreasonable rate.

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