If you don’t work at an explicitly for-profit institution of higher education, you run into an interesting dichotomy these days. As the college has it’s state funding decreased (and likely will continue to have it decreased as state budgets worsen for the immediate future), the college is forced to seek out new sources of revenue.
Some colleges have tried to make themselves more accessible to the community, turning things like their student centers into conference centers for the public and chasing out the students in the name of the profit motive. Many institutions (including my current one) have tried this and see that it doesn’t work because it hurts the most the constituency that the student center was built to serve (hint-it’s in the name).
These changes don’t change the fact that many colleges have budgets squeezed to the hilt. Repairs are needed, you can only raise tuition so much, and students are already bearing a huge burden. However, it seems that the only choice is to put more burden on the student. Raise student fees, increase user fees on students and try to make up the difference by charging the students more. Then we try and convince students that there is no problem with taking on more loans. It’s insanity.
When the state cuts funding, here’s the message they’re sending – we don’t care about colleges. It seems the proper response is to go in the best direction for the colleges survival. It’s happened at Penn State and UVA and it WILL happen at many other schools by the end of the 2020s – becoming a state assisted (essentially private) institution.
Here’s where the profit motive comes in – when you become private, you become about making the best expenditures for the bottom line. It’s always about accounting and providing product. But what’s lost is a concern for the greater good, and a concern for serving the state. You can afford that luxury when you’re government backed, but not when you’re fending for yourself. As the Bible said, you cannot serve two masters. I compared the current state of higher ed to the state of Fannie and Freddie Mac in 2006 in a conversation night. While a little bit of hyperbole, I think there’s some truth there. Serving two masters only confuses everyone and exacerbates the problems. Which are we going to serve?
