Good for them. Too bad the lower tiers cant compete. The Haves and Have-Nots of Higher Education
Paywall. And I’m not signing up for limited access to this.
Give us the skinny on what this says. Or do a gift article if that is allowed.
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The basic premise was that two types of colleges are seeing a boom in applications and enrollment: highly selective, private colleges and state flagships. Other colleges, both smaller, less well-endowed private schools and regional state & community colleges, are seeing dropping enrollment.
The article theorized that this would not completely turn around when the next recession hits the economy because of increasing skepticism about the value of higher education due to political polarization.
The author gave some recommendations for behaviors that could help these struggling colleges weather the challenges ahead:
- be careful about growth projects intended to make your college more attractive, especially if they will require taking on debt
- develop close ties within your local community to show people in your region the value of higher education, and to help those people develop trust for you as an institution
- invest in public relations and lobbying
This one made me wonder if the guy writing the article owns a public relations and lobbying firm.
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Thanks for summarizing. Couldn’t read the original article.
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The author is a well regarded prof of higher ed at UTenn. Good summary.
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I don’t think people are questioning the value of higher ed-they are still applying to elites and public flagships. They are questioning the value provided by more average private and public schools charging high rates without an obvious commensurate return.
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Can’t think of a worse more Orwellian term than “highly rejective”. Dripping with disdain and populism.
The article fails to acknowledge that attending lower ranked private or regional schools may not be in their students’ best interest. While I understand the target audience for this article is administrators at such schools seeking to keep their jobs/schools afloat, the blatant self-interest is rather annoying.
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I think people are questioning the value of higher ed even at elites and flagships. It’s just that the people who are questioning the value of higher ed are not the people who were likely to have kids headed for elites or flagships in the first place.
In our state there is a huge divide in opinion and behavior between rural typically Red-voting people and urban/suburban typically Blue-voting people. The rural people seldom chose to send their kids to anywhere other than local public directionals, and now they aren’t sending them at all. But among the urban/suburban group, especially the middle class and wealthy, demand for education seems as high as ever. This is the group that often sent their kids to flagships and higher ranked privates.
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In the name of equity, many companies and jobs no longer require a college degree, such as commercial airline pilots. It may very well not be economically sensible to pursue higher ed, particularly at a regional school, if that is one’s career goal.
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Oh we are in agreement on this. My point is only that the education rejectors will say not only that college is stupid for pilots, they will say that college is stupid in general. They don’t just look down on local directional, they also trash State Flagship and Harvard.
I agree. Also the rise of certificates. Are some self-studying with Google certificates/IT bootcamps, instead of enrolling in community colleges or regional universities? Or going into the trades?
With the rise of tech how many of these small colleges have kept up with CS offerings? Not many.
I’m a resident of PA surrounded by these small colleges. The ones that have nursing programs have done ok.
Not sure it’s a blue/red thing as a pure economic decision. Ultimately most decisions come down to money, debt and ROI. Demographics are also playing a role.
I can think of several kids from our local highly rated HS that went straight into software development or the trades. They’re doing quite well.
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Essentially “Job Training”.
Yes, eliminating the need for comprehensive college education, and instead focusing more on trade schools, would likely produce a better prepared work force, affordable to more.
In other highly developed countries, you only have substantially smaller share of the population with a 4-year degree - basically where formally required for careers in academia, doctoral degrees, law, engineering, economics, etc.
Unless if one is aiming at least for a masters, job prospects for bachelors there are not universally better than attending formal trade schools.
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Some masters degrees have very poor ROI. Lots of related debt too
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I teach at a lower tier regional institution. We have seen our enrollment decline while our flagship and the higher tier regionals in the state have seen theirs go up.
Reason 1: Our student demographic is primarily first generation and URM, and this by far is the largest group that has experienced enrollment declines.
Reason 2: regional universities like mine used to be primarily teacher colleges but management decided to overreach and double down on masters programs, big buidings and other assorted things. They want to be a mini-me of the flagship but do not have the infrastructure.
Reason 3:After Covid , our university,and many others, did not remain flexible with online or hybrid options,despite data from the registrar saying a lot of students wanted this.
Regional public institutions and lower tier private institutions need to be more nimble and adaptive to market forces. However, the elitism in academia keeps them from being so. They can do all the PR they want, but unless they have something distinct to offer,the declines will continue. And that’s not including a natural population decline of 18 year olds in the next few years.
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Exactly!
Schools have known about this for the past 10+ years. This didn’t sneak-up on them. In PA the PASSHE schools went on a spending spree. They upgraded facilities. The dorms are nicer than our state flagships.
They took the “Field of Dreams” approach. Build it and they will come. They’re currently consolidating.
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And the words “indoctrination centers” usually accompany any conversation with this particular demographic.
It is exactly this way in the PNW. In fact, many outwardly say they don’t want their kid going to UW because “Seattle is so screwed up.” Although I’ve found that if their kid actually gets in they typically choose it over publics in other parts of the state, but that’s another discussion.
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I’d agree and say it’s not purely any one thing. But for sure, ability to pay, where one lives (and the concomitant perspective that prevails where one lives) and, yes, politics, plays a role.
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