AUGUST 25, 2020 – By now we’ve all heard about The Contagion on college campuses. I’d hate to be among administrators right now. No matter what they do, they’ll be yelled at, maybe worse, when this is over. Atop news about Covid outbreaks and quarantines on campuses, we’re told about frat parties, beer bashes, and other social gatherings where all the rules about social distancing, let alone social responsibility, are blatantly ignored.
Yesterday I read a piece with input from several psychologists. They cited student brain development (or lack thereof), feelings of invincibility among youth, and the irresistible social urges that dominate young people.
The inescapable conclusion is that to stop the spread of Covid by college students, the undergraduate experience needs to be overhauled.
But that can’t be! At least half the reason for going to college, of course, is . . . to party! Which leaves the other half: playing or rooting for . . . campus sports—Covid petri dishes, El Grande size! Wait—with two halves taken, what’s left for . . . uh, er . . . academic learning?
In my decidedly curmudgeon-like opinion, the Covid crisis on college campuses reveals a long-festering problem: the cost of higher education; more specifically, the way in which “higher education” is conceived, perceived, and administered. Perhaps one of the silver linings of a very ugly pandemic will be the overhaul of American undergraduate education.
According to U.S. News, last year the average annual tuition among nationally ranked private colleges and universities topped $41,000; over $11,000 for in-state residents at public schools; above $27,000 for out-of-state residents at public universities. Add five-star meal plans, comfy dorms, and myriad fees, and you’re well into Mercedes land, Acura territory, and Lexus country, respectively. (As a fellow parent remarked when our kids were in (pricey) schools, “Think of it as buying a brand new, high-end car every year and driving it off the cliff—four years in a row.”)
Yes—there are myriad scholarships, merit and “needs based”; low-interest, government-backed student loans; mom and dad’s piggybank; grandma’s largesse; and if all else fails—tips earned delivering pizza. But regardless of the source of payments, the sticker price remains exorbitantly high.
If the goal is an educated public—across all social and economic strata of society—the cost of an American undergraduate degree is unsustainable.
Ignore the fact that the Byzantine process of admission and obtaining financial aid puts a college education beyond reach of most economically marginalized families—thus ensuring that they remain marginalized; further ignore the ugly reality that funding disparities and other gross inadequacies in public K-12 education impose further disadvantages disproportionately on marginalized kids. Ignore those inconvenient realities. Where’s the “return on investment” on education dollars spent on behalf of middle- and upper-middle class students?
By “ROI,” I don’t mean only—or even primarily—lifetime earning power. I mean learning how to think critically, expansively, and multi-dimensionally for a better adjusted and more responsible citizenry.
In this time of Covid, it’s time to re-think higher education from the ground up.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
1 Comment
Eric, This article speaks clearly of the changes we will all see in the future. Our post Covid world will never go backwards. The future of education needs progressive and innovative planning now.
Your comment “By “ROI,” I don’t mean only—or even primarily—lifetime earning power. I mean learning how to think critically, expansively, and multi-dimensionally for a better adjusted and more responsible citizenry. ” is something that used to be taught as early as 1st grade. These days testing results are more important. You hit on what I see as what is missing in society today. Without critical thinking and the ability to see beyond the words of someone, one cannot come to logical, fact based conclusions.
And still, I am hopeful for our future.
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