The democratization of education: ROI

When academic administrators get together, almost every conversation turns to the trendlines of decreased enrollments and declining revenue.

Reviewing recent survey data, it seems unlikely that the trendlines will change. About 84 percent of Americans say that tuition costs are too high. Meanwhile, 65 percent of students say that college does not give them the skills they need to succeed later in life. Only 25 percent of Gen Z high school students believe that a four-year college is the only path to getting a good job.

Taken together, it’s a storm warning that this could a terrible time for colleges. Institutions struggle when prospective users question the value of the product and its cost. It might be time for higher education institutions to re-evaluate their options and offerings.

By necessity, higher education institutions will have to look at additional online learning methods. Young professionals who have been accustomed to working from home and remote settings will expect to get the same service from their college of choice. This will put additional pressure on colleges as offerings no longer need to be location dependent, but like Amazon or other ECommerce providers, consumers will make choices based on finding the best offerings for their current needs.

Is college worth it?

Parents and students have become leery of taking on extraordinary debt to finance college educations. Roughly 36 million Americans left college without a degree. Many of those students took on debt and don’t have a receipt for the goods they paid for. “The pandemic reminded students that life happens and the college experience for many Americans was interrupted. For some of the students, it may not be possible for them to return to things the way they were.