From a great interview of Thiel by Tyler Cowen: Well there are lots of things that are true that everyone agrees with me on. I think for example even this idea that the university system is somewhat screwed up and somewhat broken at this point. This is not even a heterodox or a very controversial idea anymore. There was an article in TechCrunch where the writer starts with “this is going to be...
U Albany prez: Declining enrollment a major financial threat
The number of students at the University at Albany has dropped by 1,000 over the last eight years, making declining enrollment the college’s most “significant financial threat,” President Robert J. Jones said Wednesday in his spring address.
Solution? They’re going to expand into STEM.
Why college isn’t always worth it
Regardless of your opinion of the study’s methods, it only feeds the public perception that college has been oversold, and may not be worth the cost. So more bad news for higher ed, as this appears in a major newspaper:
Future of higher ed: survey of 2,800 academic leaders
Scroll down to the 2nd chart: Note the top four factors having “the greatest impact on the future of higher education”; on the chart the first is cost, and the next three are essentially “proving the value of a college degree”: Cost/student debt – 62% Work force development/gainful employment – 42% Assessment of learning outcomes – 31% Competency-based...
Repay as you earn loan programs are not looking good
According to Politico: In obscure data tables buried deep in its 2016 budget proposal, the Obama administration revealed this week that its student loan program had a $21.8 billion shortfall last year, apparently the largest ever recorded for any government credit program. The main cause of the shortfall was President Barack Obama’s recent efforts to provide relief for borrowers drowning in...
Law school dean whines about competition for students
I would be worried if I were a faculty member under this associate dean – he is clearly clueless about higher education in general, and the competitive trends within legal education: I am glad that some in the media — even if just the legal blogosphere — are finally paying attention to what GW Law has been doing with transfers. The school shrank its 1L class some years ago...
Future of higher education: hand-to-hand combat
What’s sad is that faculty and administrators have their heads in the sand as to what is coming down the pike. As usual, law schools are the canary in the coalmine: Summer was waning and students were already packing for the fall semester, but Prof. Daniel B. Rodriguez, dean of the Northwestern University School of Law, was still fielding phone calls from incoming students seeking to...