More musings from Cassandra

Among the many causes I take on that are clearly ahead of their time but prescient nonetheless, has been the cost of higher education in America. Essentially up to now we have not utilized technology to improve the efficiency of its distribution and as a result you have seen tuition costs rise well beyond the rate of inflation. If it isn't already, the cost of education will be priced beyond the reach of most Americans, unless something drastic changes. The factors that have driven this is fairly obvious - it is very labor intensive and the laborers demand (and can get) pay increase well beyond the rate of inflation. In addition, in order to attract the best students a virtual arms race has insued to build more and better facitities. Ironically the one area that has potentially checked the rate of tuition increase has been the ever larger revenues from collegiate sports, thanks to tv revenue. This has significantly helped a small number of consistent athletic powerhouses.

I have never believed the the Univ of Phoenix model was the solution for a number of reasons that I won't go into here, but I have posited that more Americans would look overseas for education since the cost to attend most of these fine schools is more reasonable, and the disparity in cost has never been greater. For example India Institute of Technology is arguable the finest engineering/science school in the world (perhaps only MIT or Cal Tech is better. perhaps), at a tiny fraction of the cost of the top tier in the US. On top of this is, to steal Tom Friedman's phrase, the World is Flat, and a student will likely be more prepared to compete globally with this typ of experience. Now it appears a new model is evolving (see link above) that may take the premier Univ in the world, and make their programs more accessible, and ultimately more affordable for those that attend in person. I'm not certain of the precise details of how this seachange will manifest but I am pretty sure that it has begun with the offering of complete coursework on-line. I have a few ideas on how it will unfold, essentially versioning, like software, and more work done by more people independently, who then come to the main campus for a short period to be tested and graded.

We'll see. Something has to change. When I started OSU in the Fall of 1978, the tuition was about $450 per quarter. It is now about $3,000 per quarter. To put this in real terms. I was a waiter and could work two weekends to generate enough tips to cover my tuition ( a Friday and Saturday night would typically result in at least $100 per night in tips, i.e. cash). I would now need to be a top notch stripper in LV (and not have any corresponding addiction problems) to generate that kind of cash in two weekends' time. In any event, you get the picture.