- MBTI
- INTJ
- Enneagram
- ?
I feel there is something fundamentally wrong with the way higher education is organized in America. When we pay tuition, room, and board, we are really paying for many, smaller things.
Tuition actually pays mostly for #1 and #2. Room and board are mostly for #3. Everything together pays for #4.
My first problem is that tuition is paying for two different things. As the saying goes, you can learn what costs $100,000 in tuition at college with $100 in late fees at a library. AP tests and transfer credits are financially worth as much as much as a class, even though they only really give you #2. There is less incentive to know the material in a course beforehand when #1 and #2 are lumped together.
My second problem is that #3 and #4 don't really contribute to education, per se. While they may be nice amenities, they add cost to what is already increasingly unaffordable. For those students who know what they want from college (a specific degree or job), many of these things are superfluous.
Most colleges try too hard to be one-size-fits-all, when they ought to be one-size-fits-one. This is why I have a respect for commuter colleges and online education such as Western Governors University. Not everyone needs all 4 things. Yet colleges are clamoring to add more programs, more activities, more facilities. The incentive is to make schools more competitive, not to make them "better" in the sense of serving the community.
- Knowledge
- A certification by a respected organization vouching that we do, indeed, have that knowledge. Also includes networking.
- Material items (food, housing, etc, gymnasium access.)
- An experience (career services, mental health services, advising, events, school pride, etc.)
Tuition actually pays mostly for #1 and #2. Room and board are mostly for #3. Everything together pays for #4.
My first problem is that tuition is paying for two different things. As the saying goes, you can learn what costs $100,000 in tuition at college with $100 in late fees at a library. AP tests and transfer credits are financially worth as much as much as a class, even though they only really give you #2. There is less incentive to know the material in a course beforehand when #1 and #2 are lumped together.
My second problem is that #3 and #4 don't really contribute to education, per se. While they may be nice amenities, they add cost to what is already increasingly unaffordable. For those students who know what they want from college (a specific degree or job), many of these things are superfluous.
Most colleges try too hard to be one-size-fits-all, when they ought to be one-size-fits-one. This is why I have a respect for commuter colleges and online education such as Western Governors University. Not everyone needs all 4 things. Yet colleges are clamoring to add more programs, more activities, more facilities. The incentive is to make schools more competitive, not to make them "better" in the sense of serving the community.