Too often, lawmakers want to fix higher education by blindly throwing money at the problem. From President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel large amounts of student-loan debt to Pennsylvania Gov. … Continue reading ““Grow PA” Offers a Higher-Ed Reform Model for the Nation”
For the last 20 years or so, many colleges and universities have embraced the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology by hiring administrators to promote it throughout the school. Although … Continue reading “Zealous DEI Programs Land a University in Court”
In the fall of 2020, Cairn University in southeastern Pennsylvania implemented a revised core curriculum that introduced, among other things, a new required course in civics and government. Reactions to … Continue reading “How a Private College Mandated Civics Instruction”
The concept of tenure is a contested one, to be sure. For some, it is a mere faculty entitlement, guaranteeing employment and further insulating professors from the practical realities of … Continue reading “No Tenure? No Problem”
Long the vanguard of liberal change, the American university now leads the appeasement of a hardened authoritarian China. The interest in promoting a broader community of scholars has given way … Continue reading “Universities Appease China, Ignore Human Rights Abuses”
Students across the country are taking their classes online and staying off campus. The coronavirus has interrupted higher ed for millions of students, faculty, and administrators alike. But a growing … Continue reading “Did You Know? The College Systems Giving Students COVID-19 Refunds”
As the cost of college creeps up and more small colleges close, consolidation has become a lifeline of last resort. To survive, dozens of small institutions have either merged or … Continue reading “Improving Student Outcomes by Consolidating the University System of Georgia”
As the stock market gyrates and talk of a new recession begins, many universities have reason to worry. The cost of college education hasn’t stopped rising, students are fearful of being burdened by debt, and political pressure is beginning to weigh in. Congress is entertaining a bill that would require 25 percent of a school’s endowment spending to go toward student financial aid, and several presidential candidates have unveiled plans to solve the student debt crisis. At the state level, the return of state support to its pre-recession levels may be in jeopardy. But a few universities have chosen to take a different route. In addition to looking for more state revenues, they’ve found ways to reduce their expenditures and to ease the financial burden on students.
Many college leaders speak as though the upward cost spiral is permanent and unavoidable. From experience, I can say that’s not true.
Tuition increases at American colleges began in earnest in the 1960s and ’70s, when I was a mathematics professor and later dean at C.W. Post College. The first changes driving the increases were the reductions in teaching loads.