A Response to “The Coming Meltdown”
I wanted to post a response to Seth Godin’s post: “The coming meltdown in higher education (as seen from a market)”
All in all, Godin has some great points. While I don’t agree that most colleges are organized to give an average education and that the link between education and success is tenuous, I do concur that cost, a lack of differentiation, and accreditation are problematic.
Not surprisingly, these issues are curiously entwined. College costs so much, at least at one level, because many colleges insist on having the same programs as their competitors regardless of the number of students interested in that program. In addition, colleges often have large academic cores that are designed, in part, to keep lots of faculty teaching lots of hours. Of course, the cost issue is exacerbated by the fall in family savings rates, a decline that began long before the current economic crisis.
If colleges largely offer the same programs taught by the same great faculty, then differentiation will always be difficult. Finally, accreditation, under the banner of maintaining quality, actually instills an academic sameness that further clouds the picture.
There is a notion among physicians that you never get someone’s attention until they have their first heart attack. Many colleges are having that heart attack right now. Revenue is falling far short of costs and there is no sense that the economic picture will turn around in the near future. As a result, they are forcing themselves to ask and answer tougher questions and to make decisions that should have been made long ago.
Dickeson, in Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services, has a wonderful yet sobering quote: “Most colleges cannot afford to be what they have become.”
This has become the tagline of higher education. I fear, and dread, that it may become its obituary as well.
Bob Sevier is a senior vice president, strategy, at Stamats, Inc., a higher education research, planning, consulting, and marketing communication company. Download your copy of his presentation in assessing institutional vulnerability.
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Andrew Careaga
