At start of AY 2011-12, perfect storm still brewing in higher ed

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here's what I said a few years ago. My comments remain valid, I think, today: ******************************************************************************************************************************************** A Perfect Storm Is Building in Higher Education By James Castagnera ******************************************************************************************************************************************** When it comes to college, I wear two hats. As a parent I’m probably a lot like you other moms and dads out there. I want my kid’s college to be an affordable, safe path to a prosperous and meaningful life. That’s a tall order for any institution of higher ed. But I feel entitled to demand it. And I feel anxious, and even a bit betrayed, by the ever-increasing tuition costs, not to mention the guns that keep going off in college classrooms. Last week Louisiana Tech in Baton Rouge joined the list of universities, headed by Virginia Tech, where crazy students shot their classmates and then themselves. Our kids’ college years aren’t supposed to be anything like that; their high school friends who joined the armed forces --- like my friends who went to Vietnam --- are supposed to suck that up for the rest of us. When I switch chapeau and don my university attorney’s fedora, I see what may be in store for American higher education in the decades ahead. What I see is a perfect storm. You’ll recall that Sebastian Junger’s book by that name told the maritime tale of three weather fronts that came crashing together in the North Atlantic. The three weather fronts facing higher ed are global competition, government regulation, and consumer demands. American universities continue to be the gold standard of higher education. However, other world regions are giving us a run for our money. The European Union’s so-called Bologna Accords are aimed at creating uniformity across its many member nations, so that EU students can study almost anywhere on Continent, confident their credits will be counted at their home institutions. This will be a big incentive toward doing their study-abroad experiences in Europe, rather than coming to the U.S. For their part, Asian students are increasingly electing to study in Australia or New Zealand, where travel and tuition costs are significantly less on average than in the States. Add to these competitive initiatives the barriers --- albeit trending lower --- erected against international students in the wake of the Nine-Eleven terrorist attacks. You may recall that some of the killers who hijacked and piloted the planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon studied at American flight schools under the auspices of student visas. George Bush may claim to favor a smaller government and fewer regulations. His Secretary of Education does not seem to agree. Earlier this month Secretary Spellings told a Texas audience, “Today, we're using data to drive decision-making and to empower consumer advocates. After decades of doling out federal dollars and hoping for the best we're now expecting - and beginning to get – results.” What she would like is a system of accountability similar to what the Bush Administration has imposed in the K-12 environment. Last week, too, the House passed its version of a renewal of the Higher Education Act. The lower house of Congress must have disappointed the DOE Secretary in that a surviving amendment would keep her agency out of the accreditation business… at least for now. Meanwhile, a fellow named Andrew Cuomo, son of the one-time governor of New York, shook higher ed to its financial foundations last year when he went after financial aid directors --- some serving at America’s most prestigious universities --- for accepting perks and kick-backs for preferential treatment of selected student-loan organizations. Cuomo continues his crusade this year, aiming the power his office --- Attorney General of New York --- at the enormous study-abroad business. As with accreditation of colleges, Cuomo’s crusade is requiring higher ed institutions and umbrella organizations to retreat rapidly into stricter self-regulation or risk additional federal and state intrusion. Furthermore, if we don’t succeed in making our campuses safer, federal and state law enforcement will. A current “hot button” among the feds is a perceived rise in Islamic extremism on some campuses, Bringing this column full circle, last but not least are we parents and our children… the consumers. The 35th annual freshman survey, coincidentally released last week by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, found that 63% of respondents said they chose their schools for academic quality while 52% mentioned the good jobs that alumni are getting. A sizable number also pinpointed financial aid as a significant factor. These numbers tell me that we have become savvy consumers. A college education is an investment and we expect a reasonable return. The day can’t be far off when the courts will experience a surge of suits by parents and students claiming that the college or university of their choosing failed to deliver on its promises. And that, fellow parents, is the perfect storm that I, as an academic administrator, am bracing to weather.