Survey results released in mid-February show that many Americans believe colleges and universities operate too much like businesses — treating students as “customers” and focusing too much on bottom-line strategies rather than on providing a quality education.
The survey — conducted by Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education — indicates the percentage of respondents holding that that view increased from 52 percent to 60 percent in 2007.
Another nugget from the survey grabbed my attention: Some two-thirds of those responding said that colleges should use federal stimulus money to hold down tuition, even if it means less money for operations and programs.
First, let’s talk about the business-minded approach to higher education. I think survey respondents are right on target. The business approach manifests itself on campuses in many ways. But the impetus for that mind-set is lawmakers, who increasingly think it’s their business to micromanage colleges and universities. I can use Kentucky as an example, and my guess is other states have the same scenario.
Proposals discussed in the General Assembly in the commonwealth where I live and teach college have ranged from penalizing teachers who do not meet textbook request deadlines (under the guise of reducing students’ book costs) to setting by law the number of credit hours needed to graduate, to standardizing general education class requirements and myriad proposals to hasten graduation rates. Meanwhile, campuses push to teach more classes online and through “telecourses,” an approach that is much cheaper to execute than putting students and teacher in a classroom.
The conventional wisdom: Academic “templates” can be operated much more efficiently financially than colleges and universities allowed to determine what’s best for them and the students who attend them.
The current financial crunch all states are facing gives the business mind-set even more traction. Higher education budgets in almost every state face huge cuts, leaving increases in tuition as one of the few viable options for relief.
So, the public says: “Let’s use stimulus money to offset those tuition increases.”
Seems reasonable until you consider that if more government intervention into higher education causes the business mind-set, taking short-term money from the government brings the prospect of more government intervention.
Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the poll “is the vote of no confidence we’re getting from the public. They think college is important, but they’re really losing trust in the management and leadership.”
Perhaps, but if the “management” is state lawmakers, who we already know get a low vote of confidence from the public, why should anyone be surprised?
Resources:
- http://chronicle.com/article/Public-Opinion-of-Higher/64217/
- http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/squeeze-play-2010
- http://www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research.cfm
- http://www.aascu.org/policy_matters/v2_9/default.htm
It should be the responsibility of the student to get the most out of their education and graduate on time. That said, some people simply should not go to college. Any student entering their freshman year of college who cannot spell and punctuate properly--and I mean two syllable words--does not belong. When colleges accept all of these type of students, one could see how they are shuffling in numbers and not talent to reap the monetary benefit. They can always advise them into a dumbed down degree program and shuffle them through the system. Sadly, these are the people who incompetantly answer the phone at any local government agency. Don't agree? Call your local Post Office or Veterans Administration with a difficult question. You will be transferred through 3 or 4 of these dimwits until you finally get the guy who is about to retire.
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