The American Higher Education Game

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2019/04/04/State-System-of-Higher-Education-PASSHE-tuition-financial-aid-scholarships-Pennsylvania-college/stories/201904040094

Starting in fall 2020, individual state-owned universities in Pennsylvania will set their own tuition in a major policy change that also gives them new freedom to decide how much financial aid to dispense and in what form.

In what leaders of the State System of Higher Education called the biggest single decision so far in a redesign begun in 2017, all 14 campuses can start establishing tuition rates two years at a time, by no later than April 30 each year, rather than the current practice of doing so in July for a single year, just weeks before the new academic year.

Officials concede the most “punishing” work is still ahead, creating campus price strategies that generate enough revenue to stabilize struggling campuses while avoiding cost increases so steep as to drive away more middle- and lower-income students.

Both income groups have been enrolling in declining numbers at some universities, officials said.

 

While journalists and some politicians like to point to research universities as a big driver of economic growth, the big tech zones of Boston and the 3 big California cities being the exemplars, when you zoom in I think its clear that all sorts of education impacts local and regional economies.

 

In my AO, since it is in oil country, vo-tech and community colleges are struggling with enrollment. Somebody who is in their 20s or 30s, has been working for some years, has a clean criminal and driving record, can get a CDL and drive truck in the oil patch for $50k starting. I know several people who have or are currently teaching in the community college system, and sadly its pretty much what one might expect; some good comes out of it, but its really inefficient. And the in-classroom faculty is where the college system spends the least.

 

And this trend of a burgeoning staff on the admin side, and shrinking full-time faculty on the academic side, continues on all sectors. I applied for a teaching job back in December, at a well-known university, and they finally called me for an interview in March. The position, as it turns out, was adjunct, not full time as advertised. Keep in mind that this campus was 100+ miles from me, requiring relocation. They were hoping to find someone to work for half pay, no benefits, and relocate out-of-pocket.

 

from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-18/can-mitchonomics-fix-the-broken-business-of-higher-ed, a quote from Mitch Daniels (president of Purdue University);

 

Daniels says that when he first broached the idea of a freeze, admissions officials warned him that doing so would suggest “we’ve lost confidence in our product.” But he argued that the spiraling cost of higher education was unsustainable. “I told people, ‘The market won’t stand for this, and at some point the public is going to start demanding that universities lower costs. So let’s not be last.’ ”

 

When speaking to campus audiences, Daniels cites Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian economist who pioneered the concept of “creative destruction.” The history of business, Daniels says, shows “it’s impossible for the incumbent to adjust fast enough to ward off the disrupters, in part because what you’re doing has worked for such a long period of time. So we’re in a race.”

 

My prediction is that public and major private universities and colleges overall aren't going to change enough to resolve the problem. Everybody in the system is angling for those sinecure positions. With the ginormous amounts of money in the tech and finance sectors, I believe there will be a new category of college, probably private and not-for-profit, that will provide a better solution. The conditions are right, its a matter of time before some iconoclast like Elon Musk steps up.

 

[Ssnake]

Isn't Dr. Peterson already working on some alternative?

[Chris Werb]

I don't know why you're worried about this whole "education thing". People in this country have had enough of experts (allegedly!).

[Skywalkre]

This topic seems fitting for a disturbing story a friend recently told me about.

 

This friend was an adjunct at a large state school doing online and hybrid classes. Said friend made squat - about ~$24k/year. This included both semesters and summer courses so they were working effectively all year. On top of that they weren't guaranteed a job when their current crop of classes finished. They'd only find out they had a job sometimes days before the next set of classes started (a tangent to this was this friend routinely had to create a class just days before they started ). So the stress from lack of money was compounded by the stress of not even knowing you'd have work in the coming weeks.

 

So my friend eventually gave the middle finger to this school and changed jobs. Said friend kept in touch with old colleagues still putting up with this BS. Turns out the school recently told the majority of these adjuncts they no longer had jobs for them. Their classes would go on... just with no instructors. The school was automating everything. They took all their notes, lectures, old vids, tests, etc. and would simply recycle these ad nauseum into the future. Any interaction students needed would be via email with random grad students now assigned to cover these courses.

 

Without a doubt the stupidest thing I've probably heard involving higher education in this country. It'd be one thing if this change was a move to drastically cut costs for the students. It's not. Courses will still be as expensive as they were (which, oddly enough, were more expensive than if the students had attended the same courses on the school's main campus.)

 

At that point your class is really no better than if you had simply spent the time reading the wiki page or a good book. It's a fucking travesty... and no one seems to care or even bat an eyelash.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Skywalkre

[Rick]

What are the classes being automated?

[Ivanhoe]

So my friend eventually gave the middle finger to this school and changed jobs. Said friend kept in touch with old colleagues still putting up with this BS. Turns out the school recently told the majority of these adjuncts they no longer had jobs for them. Their classes would go on... just with no instructors. The school was automating everything. They took all their notes, lectures, old vids, tests, etc. and would simply recycle these ad nauseum into the future. Any interaction students needed would be via email with random grad students now assigned to cover these courses.

 

I was warned about this in 2001, when I was working a research job at a major research university. Who warned me about this? My boss, a full prof. He wanted to make sure I understood the risks of getting tangled up with the online-ization of elite university education.

[Ivanhoe]

What are the classes being automated?

 

Anything and everything that can be. All the way up through the distance learning wing of graduate engineering schools.

[Colin]

I just looked at the "history" textbook my wife has to teach from. Based on European history. The plague and Black Death get a 1/2 paragraph. sigh.....

[Rick]

I just looked at the "history" textbook my wife has to teach from. Based on European history. The plague and Black Death get a 1/2 paragraph. sigh.....

Out of curiosity, how much is devoted to the influence of Christianity? A side note, the Jews of this time period suffered less than the rest of the population due to the laws stated in Leviticus.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Rick

[JWB]

Where is all of that money going:

[Tim the Tank Nut]

recently the local Board of Education paid for indoor delivery of a case of waters 24 count 16oz each by semi tractor trailer with a liftgate. About $230 to deliver a $3.99 case of waters...

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/adjunct-professors-higher-education-thea-hunter/586168/

 

Nearly 80 percent of faculty members were tenured or tenure-track in 1969. Now roughly three-quarters of faculty are nontenured. The jobs that are available—as an adjunct, or a visiting professor—rest on shaky foundations, as those who occupy them try to balance work and life, often without benefits. And Thea wobbled for years.

[EchoFiveMike]

One of the core problems of America is that the people that pay have little/no influence over the people that direct who gets paid. The rule of bureaucrats is "grow authority, avoid accountability."

 

Burn it all down, start fresh; just like the forestry service and their idiot policy with fire fighting. Now, it will be an unavoidable holocaust, all that's left is determining magnitude. S/F...Ken M

[Ivanhoe]

Tragically funny;

 

https://universitytitlegenerator.com/