Covid-19 Response: Evidence of How Higher Ed Can Be Completely Restructured?

[marshwiggle]

IHE op-ed writer uses the dreaded "unbundling":

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/10/06/benefits-academics-only-college-opinion.

A couple of fascinating quotations:

The new face of college necessitated by the pandemic has raised fundamental questions among significantly more people about whether traditional residential education is worth it.
...

Thus, debate is needed as to whether students and their families should have the option of attending a different sort of college -- one focused primarily upon academics
...
That a college or university would concentrate exclusively on academics and direct academic support services is not unprecedented internationally.

The fact that this is such radical thinking in the U.S. is kind of mind-boggling, since in most other places the "residential" aspect only exists to accomodate students who live far enough away for it to be a necessity. It's not the goal of the institution. (The one exception, perhaps, being religious institutions, where controlling all kinds of lifestyle factors is intentional.)

It's worth remembering that the U.S. covers a huge settled area.  The population hasn't historically been concentrated in a handful of metropolitan areas.  Even today, a lot of students don't live within easy commuting distance of any college.  The U.S. also has historically had a much greater variety of higher education to choose from--you might live a long way from your school of choice.

Still...you're right about Americans focusing a lot on the residential aspect of college life.  It's widespread conventional wisdom that going off to college, instead of commuting to whatever happens to be nearest, is a desirable experience in and of itself.  I lived within easy commuting distance of Alma Mater.  But since I won a scholarship that included room and board, my parents encouraged me to live on campus and participate in campus life.  Alma Mater is a church-affiliated school, so they did figure I'd meet with good influences there.

One thought that occurred to me is that perhaps this is why some small campuses have had big protests, etc. (Such as Evergreen State College) Ironically, trying to produce a strong "community" experience may make students  feel more out of place if they are first generation or from a different culture. On the other hand, a place where students commute, and are only on campus for classes, etc. doesn't feel that disconnected since it doesn't affect so many aspects of life.

[apl68]

I would imagine that a commuter campus just feels like a natural step up from K-12.  You go there to take classes, you live your life somewhere else.

[spork]

Eastern Carolina U. athletics has a "deficit" of $4.7 million so it's instituting salary cuts and furloughs, and possibly eliminating some sports programs (I say "possibly" because no specific programs are identified):

https://ecupirates.com/news/2020/10/19/general-an-update-from-ad-jon-gilbert.aspx.

It the money spent on athletics was instead spent on instruction and academic support services, I wonder what would happen to the quality of an education from ECU?

[histchick]

I would imagine that a commuter campus just feels like a natural step up from K-12.  You go there to take classes, you live your life somewhere else.

So much so that we call it "teaching thirteenth grade." 

[ciao_yall]

I would imagine that a commuter campus just feels like a natural step up from K-12.  You go there to take classes, you live your life somewhere else.

So much so that we call it "teaching thirteenth grade."

In our area there are a number of CC's within commuting distance of one another. Local kids graduate from HS and choose one farther away from their local CC just to meet new kids and get away from the HS scene. Which works really well until a bunch of their old classmates ended up choosing the same school...

[downer]

I would imagine that a commuter campus just feels like a natural step up from K-12.  You go there to take classes, you live your life somewhere else.

So much so that we call it "teaching thirteenth grade."

Some commuter schools are good, others are not. For the ones that are not, they attend to attract the less accomplished HS students. So teaching there is quite a lot worse than teaching at some high schools. It can be like teaching 9th grade.

But the thing about college is that not everyone has to pass, and students who lack motivation soon stop coming. That makes it easier.

[spork]

"The average net price to attend Northeastern is $43,000 a year and students and parents are increasingly questioning why they are spending so much money on a largely remote learning experience. Some have complained about professors starting the semester in person and then moving to remote after a few weeks. However, some professors said that even when they teach on campus, many students choose to take the class virtually from their dorm room."

[spork]

The Chronicle: Colleges have shed 10% of their employees since the pandemic began. (paywalled)

[spork]

Chronicle article on survey data, paywalled:

Colleges Grapple With Grim Financial Realities.

Highlights:

"Many of the surveyed institutions — particularly small private colleges — offered high discount rates and saw significant declines in net-tuition revenue. Smaller institutions and those with lower graduation rates were also more likely to lose value on their endowments."

"Larger institutions, meanwhile, were more likely to lose revenue on athletic events — particularly if they had an NCAA football program."

"the survey confirms some assumptions about the pressures colleges are facing and indicates that institutions with size, prestige, and higher graduation rates — qualities that provided 'preservative effects' in the crisis — will pull away from smaller, poorer institutions."

"Nearly half of the private baccalaureate colleges and a quarter of private master's colleges responding to the survey noted net tuition revenue decreases of 5 percent or more. Colleges that saw losses of more than 5 percent also held only online classes in the fall, instituted furloughs, or announced layoffs."

"The survey revealed fewer vulnerabilities for public institutions in discounting or meeting revenue goals. But again, public colleges – perhaps because of their generally larger size — were more likely to see declining revenue for athletics, dining, and residence halls. They were also more prone to spend money on Covid-19 testing and surveillance."

[dr_codex]

Chronicle article on survey data, paywalled:

Colleges Grapple With Grim Financial Realities.

Highlights:
"The survey revealed fewer vulnerabilities for public institutions in discounting or meeting revenue goals. But again, public colleges – perhaps because of their generally larger size — were more likely to see declining revenue for athletics, dining, and residence halls. They were also more prone to spend money on Covid-19 testing and surveillance."

Thank you for this.

I'm at a Public, and I can tell you that Covid testing blew a hole in our already fragile budget, and that while the mothership demanded it (rightly so), it isn't offering to pay for any of it. We also saw the cuts in revenue for dining & residence halls, largely because they are sunk costs and cannot be rented out or otherwise repurposed during a pandemic.

The bigger problem, of course is that the publics are dependent upon State coffers, and those are in terrible shape. Barring something very unexpected in Congress, this is unlikely to change soon.

[spork]

In the age of the internet, one doesn't need college for the college experience, just a hotel resort:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/03/pricey-mini-campus-promises-students-maskless-safe-spring-term.

[Hibush]

In the age of the internet, one doesn't need college for the college experience, just a hotel resort:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/03/pricey-mini-campus-promises-students-maskless-safe-spring-term.

You will not be surprised to learn that "co-founder Lane Russell, a former equity derivatives trader who graduated from Princeton in 2018" is the kind of person who would start this.

[apl68]

In the age of the internet, one doesn't need college for the college experience, just a hotel resort:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/03/pricey-mini-campus-promises-students-maskless-safe-spring-term.

So, a special resort for well-heeled students who want to take classes online somewhere besides home?  Weird.

I liked this quote from the article:


"The U Experience bottle hasn't yet been opened: that happens Jan. 28. But to many critics, it already smells like the ill-fated Fyre Festival of 2017, whose (different) young organizers promised a premier concert experience on a Bahamian isle but delivered only desperation and dehydration to stranded guests. To some, the U Experience also has a soupçon of "The Masque of the Red Death," Edgar Allan Poe's version of what happens when an elite few cordon themselves off from the outside world during the plague (spoiler: death finds a way in)."


It's very easy to see the brilliant "disrupters" who came up with this idea botching the logistics and failing to deliver on their promises.  And a couple of bored thrill-seekers sneaking out, getting infected, and spreading it to the rest of the student body.  Not too likely to get any of the young students killed, but imagine the uproar if a bunch of them end up testing positive after all.

The article is no doubt right that the price tag will prevent a very "diverse" student body, despite the organizers' protests that that's what they're trying to recruit.  There certainly isn't going to be any economic diversity among attendees.  The optics, as they say, don't look good.

[spork]

I don't think it's weird at all. Since mid-March there have been students enrolled at a variety of institutions who have been living in a variety of locations. Park City. Flagstaff. The Hamptons. Rent a house, fill it, socially isolate. Get meals delivered, use the pool or the hot tub whenever you want. Minerva delivers a curriculum regardless of students' geographic location. This plan delivers a geographic location regardless of curriculum. 

[marshwiggle]

Fascinating:

The start-up was founded by three recent Princeton University alumni who believe that higher education's future lies in its unbundling. While COVID-19 was the catalyst for their business model, they think academe's mass "tacit endorsement" of online education will outlive the pandemic, and that students and their families will start to think about college as three separate entities: an education, a credential and an experience.

I think they're right on the money there. I'm intrigued by the distinction between the education and the credential.

Believing in this new reality requires many assumptions. Among them: professors will willingly give up their intellectual property in terms of course design and recorded lectures, so that universities can and will repackage them as courses at scale, at a lower cost.

I'd be glad to be paid for course design, and leave delivery to someone else. That would be a great job since it could be remote, asynchronous, etc.; perfect for semi-retirement.