by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Article first published as
Is Higher Education Doomed (Part I): Driving Off a Cliff Near You – The State-Run University
on Technorati.com

Part I

The average cost of a college degree is rapidly rising. In 2006, the annual average cost for tuition and fees at a state-run (public) four-year school was reported to be $5,836. In 2010, that cost was $7,605, an increase of 30% in the time it takes to earn a typical undergraduate degree. This follows a 46% increase in tuition and fees in the previous four year period (2002 to 2006.) What is even more disturbing is that there is no end in sight in the rapid escalation of the cost of higher education. (What does it cost to go to college? Click on this link to the College Board website.)

So where is all this going? Consider these six facts:

1. College debt is becoming the next major loan crisis following the same scenario as housing crisis: Too many huge loans made to people who cannot possibly afford them.
2. States have made, and continue to make massive cuts in funding higher education. Specifically, funding cuts to the operational budgets of state-run universities and colleges.
3. The budget cuts have driven up tuition and fee costs, making the concept of an ‘affordable’ college education at a state-run institution a myth.
4. The budget cuts have also forced higher education institutions to increase class sizes and cut services, so students/parents pay more and get less in return.
5. The budget cuts have effectively ended the concept of job security for the professor as university administrators have hacked away at programs in desperate attempts to slash expenses.
6. State-run universities and colleges are locked into a brick and mortar concept that demands that education must occur primarily on a centralized campus with massive overhead costs.

Put these six facts together and there is one unmistakable conclusion: state-run universities cannot continue in their present form, and may not survive at all.

In addition to the major problems crushing state-run universities, the refinement of learning/teaching alternatives and an Internet system that removes the ‘it-has-to-be-taught-here’ mentality of campus administrators is presenting options that have yet to be fully explored.

NEXT:  Is Higher Ed Doomed? (Part II): The cost of Higher Ed doesn’t add up (Click for link)

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