Should You Spend $500,000 on College?
What you need to know about higher ed now
There's a crisis in higher education that is worth your attention--whether you have a student in college or not.
Strikes are on the rise on college campuses. Here’s why:
1) Full-time, tenured faculty is down to 26%. Thirty years ago, 54% of faculty were tenured at public institutions and 49% at private schools. (So when you go on a college tour and they say you will be taught by tenured faculty, that's mostly a lie.)
2) Tenured faculty are replaced with contingent faculty, who teach 4 classes a semester which leaves little time for research or advising students.
College faculty on strike
Tenure’s impact on your child’s education
You may be thinking, “So what? I don’t have job security. Why should professors?” And, that’s fair, but let me explain.
Tenured faculty—particularly female, tenured faculty—do the vast majority of administrative work within the academic departments. This includes setting up teaching schedules, hiring/evaluating/firing faculty, and advising students so they can graduate on time.
What this means for you:
Students are less likely to be taught by scholars who are actively doing research.
Faculty have less time to spend advising students
There is a rotating teaching staff so there is less consistency in the curriculum
It has gotten so bad, professors are leaving the profession in droves. It even has a hashtag: #TheProfessorIsOut.
Professors are leaving universities in droves with the help of organizations like The Professor Is Out.
What is the marketing hype?
College marketers have pressured you and your child for years. This is what is behind it.
1) Colleges have increasingly hired CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) with backgrounds at companies like Pottery Barn and General Mills. These experts bring their branding expertise and data-tracking skills with them.
2) Millennials—the largest generational cohort—aged out of their college years. For more than a decade, this group provided an endless supply of prospective students. No more. As potential college consumers decrease, there is increased competition for undergraduates, and colleges are forced to intensify their marketing push to get as many students to apply as possible.
3) Acceptance rates need to be low and selectivity to be high—you know this. The way to do this is to get as many students to apply as possible, even if they will never get accepted to the college.
4) “Holistic review” is a marketing term, not reality. Students are led to believe that admissions personnel are assiduously poring over letters of recommendation and extracurriculars. The Wall Street Journal confirmed that top schools are spending an average of 8 minutes on an application.
Which College is Right?
First of all, take a breath. You’ve made big financial decisions before. Don’t let the emotional hype distort your thinking.
Here are some tips:
1) Understand what you can and cannot afford. Remember, financial aid packages change, and there are a lot of expenses like books and travel on top of tuition, room, and board.
2) What are you studying? Look for the school that has the best program for the major you are interested in. It may not be one of the Ivy League or other elite colleges.
3) How far away do you really want to be? My daughter started at a school 5 hours away and transferred to one 2 hours away. Not only were travel expenses significantly less, she had more flexibility if she want to come home.
4) Visualize what your life will be like if you have to take on significant debt. Statistics show that women and people of color carry the most debt and are not as highly compensated as white men, so we are hit with a double whammy.