Posted on Oct 14, 2017
With the rate of tuition increases over the last 20 years, will there be a major shift in standard 4 year degree programs?
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As student debt climbs for many in the civilian world, will there be a new educational model in the next 10-20 years?
Education
Bachelors Degree
GI Bill
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 4
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Sir,
I've worked IT in the education sector for a decade - yes, the four-year education model is effectively on life support. Our full-time resident student enrollment dropped by 50% over the last ten years, launching our institution into financial crisis. At $450 per credit hour, with at least 12 credits per semester, many students pay more money for a room and a meal plan than the education they came to earn.
We have TWICE as many "on-line learners" (OLLs) who pay full credit hour tuition, but only pay an equipment or technology service fee. It takes 2.3 OLLs to make up for one full-time resident. In comparison to the traditional educational model, the online structure is flexible and has very little administrative overhead. Your costs are reduced to money spent creating or purchasing accredited course content, the faculty proctoring the course (monitoring and grading student in the online format - most of them adjunct faculty proctoring courses as a third job), infrastructure costs, and support staff.
I've worked IT in the education sector for a decade - yes, the four-year education model is effectively on life support. Our full-time resident student enrollment dropped by 50% over the last ten years, launching our institution into financial crisis. At $450 per credit hour, with at least 12 credits per semester, many students pay more money for a room and a meal plan than the education they came to earn.
We have TWICE as many "on-line learners" (OLLs) who pay full credit hour tuition, but only pay an equipment or technology service fee. It takes 2.3 OLLs to make up for one full-time resident. In comparison to the traditional educational model, the online structure is flexible and has very little administrative overhead. Your costs are reduced to money spent creating or purchasing accredited course content, the faculty proctoring the course (monitoring and grading student in the online format - most of them adjunct faculty proctoring courses as a third job), infrastructure costs, and support staff.
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Capt Brandon Charters
In the IT world, this couldn't be more true. Thanks for sharing this personal example. I think more industries are quickly following behind.
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1LT (Join to see)
Capt Brandon Charters - This same trend is happening with remote work. More companies are beginning to see the benefit of allowing their employees to work from an "office" of their choosing while providing them with the hardware necessary to perform the work. Why lease an office building when my employees can conduct every aspect of work on a digital platform?
I used to work at an Apple MSP in Philadelphia and we had a researching/consulting firm as a client that was 100% decentralized. No office, just a website, MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads; each employee lived in a different part of the United States and many would regularly travel abroad. The amount of money saved was astronomical.
There's no reason why education wouldn't follow this trend, save for the lack of the face-to-face interaction you'd normally get with a professor (which, incidentally, I find to be more valuable than most of my undergraduate education).
I used to work at an Apple MSP in Philadelphia and we had a researching/consulting firm as a client that was 100% decentralized. No office, just a website, MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads; each employee lived in a different part of the United States and many would regularly travel abroad. The amount of money saved was astronomical.
There's no reason why education wouldn't follow this trend, save for the lack of the face-to-face interaction you'd normally get with a professor (which, incidentally, I find to be more valuable than most of my undergraduate education).
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Capt Brandon Charters
Absolutely. Technology that connects remote working teams is only getting stronger. I agree that this trend will continue.
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I rarely use HuffPost as a reference, but they got it right here. This and competition between schools to provide facilities for staff and students far superior to what few of us see. Sad part is it’s done primarily with taxpayer funds.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4738584
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4738584
'It's A Lie. It's A Lie. It's A Lie'
The number of non-academic administrative and professional employees at U.S. colleges and universities has more than doubled in the last 25 years, vastly...
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CPT Lawrence Cable
I have a number of professor friends and their salaries have not increased much beyond the rate of inflation. As an example, my out of state tuition rate my last year on campus, 1979 (yes, I am an old fart), was just under $600 a semester. Today it's $13928 for Freshmen and Juniors, 23 times the cost of when I went to College. The median income was $15,177, today it's around $53,000, or about 3.5 times as high.
An educated opinion on what is driving those cost. The availability of student loans to anyone without looking at ability to pay it back and the federal guarantees that have spawned some private loan companies that took lessons from the mob. We have had generations told they must get a degree to be successful and with easy loan money, there was little incentive for either them nor the colleges to control costs. So now you get a Dean of everything from real subjects like Chemistry to Deans of Diversity. As noted in the article, you see an expansion of majors, being somewhat cynical, most of which have little or no real world application. Just what to you do with a degree in Women's Studies, and why isn't the a degree program for Men's Studies? So now we have generations in debt bondage with largely useless degrees.
Don't get me started on athletics.
The only way to get cost down to a liveable level is to go to mixed learning where most of the courses are online with small and nonresident student bodies. Progressives always like to bring up Western Europe as an example, but apparently none of them have actually been there. When I was in Germany, the Universities didn't have any dorms or living quarters, there were no sports teams, or at least none financed by the schools, and you just went there to go to school.
An educated opinion on what is driving those cost. The availability of student loans to anyone without looking at ability to pay it back and the federal guarantees that have spawned some private loan companies that took lessons from the mob. We have had generations told they must get a degree to be successful and with easy loan money, there was little incentive for either them nor the colleges to control costs. So now you get a Dean of everything from real subjects like Chemistry to Deans of Diversity. As noted in the article, you see an expansion of majors, being somewhat cynical, most of which have little or no real world application. Just what to you do with a degree in Women's Studies, and why isn't the a degree program for Men's Studies? So now we have generations in debt bondage with largely useless degrees.
Don't get me started on athletics.
The only way to get cost down to a liveable level is to go to mixed learning where most of the courses are online with small and nonresident student bodies. Progressives always like to bring up Western Europe as an example, but apparently none of them have actually been there. When I was in Germany, the Universities didn't have any dorms or living quarters, there were no sports teams, or at least none financed by the schools, and you just went there to go to school.
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I think costs will be one of many factors that drive more to use cheaper computer-based (e.g. edX, Cybrary.IT) and classroom-to-job programs (e.g. IVMF, New Horizons). Certifications and degrees are credentials proven to show little about someone's competence in a position alone but a barrier to pass hiring managers. Networking and proof of knowledge especially via personal brand and online profile create the foundation for employers' confidence in you.
Most of the knowledge I use at work now comes from what I've learned on my own time. That doesn't knock the university but shows that you have to do your own professional development. . . structured self development. o.O
What say you?
Most of the knowledge I use at work now comes from what I've learned on my own time. That doesn't knock the university but shows that you have to do your own professional development. . . structured self development. o.O
What say you?
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Capt Brandon Charters
Structured personal development is a must. We are all going to land roles in our career that likely have nothing to do with the classroom instruction from a 4yr program. You will need to pick it up on your own and through the help of your team and network of mentors you've grown to trust over your career. I will say that the 4 year degree program can show that someone has the initiative to stay the course and strive for excellence in an academic environment. That does have some solid translation to your ability to learn on the job.
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