Posted on

The Hi-Tech Mess of Higher Education

bromwich_1-081414_jpg_600x636_q85

Students at Deep Springs College in the California desert, near the Nevada border, where education involves ranching, farming, and self-governance in addition to academics

The Hi-Tech Mess of Higher Education

David Bromwich
AUGUST 14, 2014 ISSUE

Ivory Tower

a film directed by Andrew Rossi

Andrew Rossi’s documentary Ivory Tower prods us to think about the crisis of higher education. But is there a crisis? Expensive gambles, unforeseen losses, and investments whose soundness has yet to be decided have raised the price of a college education so high that today on average it costs eleven times as much as it did in 1978. Underlying the anxiety about the worth of a college degree is a suspicion that old methods and the old knowledge will soon be eclipsed by technology.

Indeed, as the film accurately records, our education leaders seem to believe technology is a force that—independent of human intervention—will help or hurt the standing of universities in the next generation. Perhaps, they think, it will perform the work of natural selection by weeding out the ill-adapted species of teaching and learning. A potent fear is that all but a few colleges and universities will soon be driven out of business.

It used to be supposed that a degree from a respected state or private university brought with it a job after graduation, a job with enough earning power to start a life away from one’s parents. But parents now are paying more than ever for college; and the jobs are not reliably waiting at the other end. “Even with a master’s,” says an articulate young woman in the film, a graduate of Hunter College, “I couldn’t get a job cleaning toilets at a local hotel.” The colleges are blamed for the absence of jobs, though for reasons that are sometimes obscure. They teach too many things, it is said, or they impart knowledge that is insufficiently useful; they ask too much of students or they ask too little. Above all, they are not wired in to the parts of the economy in which desirable jobs are to be found.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/aug/14/hi-tech-mess-higher-education/

Posted on

Proposed N.J. cap on college tuition faces stiff resistance

animal-house2

Proposed N.J. cap on college tuition faces stiff resistance

A bill to mandate a fixed-rate four-year tuition at the state’s colleges and universities would, if made into law, put New Jersey in the vanguard of states trying the tactic in an effort to hold down college costs.

But the measure — introduced as the “signature piece” of a 20-bill higher education reform package last week — is likely to face stiff opposition from the schools and critics who say there is no evidence that it will stem tuition in the long run.

“There’s reason to oppose any bill that caps tuition,” said Paul Shelly, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities. “We’re already at 1990s levels of state funding and now you’re going to handicap the colleges from raising the money they need?”

There are different variations of fixed-rate tuition plans around the country. Rates can be locked in for four, five or even six years. Some colleges just fix tuition and not fees, while others include housing. Some schools charge more for the fixed-rate plan at the outset, with families hedging against future tuition increases.

The trend is still small, with less than 7 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities offering fixed-rate plans last year, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. But the numbers are growing. The legislatures in Illinois and Texas have both approved bills requiring that public colleges offer a fixed-rate plan. (Alex/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/proposed-n-j-cap-on-college-tuition-faces-stiff-resistance-1.749168#sthash.Er8NfC8w.dpuf