Costs of Higher education

The costs of higher education continue to be an issue. Blog U had a good discussion going on the economics of higher education with people providing some suggestions on where to read up. See http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning/questions_on_economics_of_higher_ed#Comments

Tim Pawlenty on the Daily Show talks about iCollege

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty talks about "iCollege" on the Daily Show (Pt 1 of the unedited interview. Why shouldn't students have a choice to pull out their iPhones or their iPads and decide what courses to take via "iCollege"? Why drive to campus to sit through a boring lecture? The government can provide students with as much support as possible and allow students to direct their own education. Ok, this is a "talking point" and isn't fleshed out. Is he thinking about a sequence of nationally-produced courses monitored by teaching assistants? Is he thinking de-funding campuses? No more college football? Does he sound like he's read DIY U? More on Pawlenty:

"Warning for MSU

Asked by a university employee about the prospects for funding for state colleges in the upcoming legislative session, Pawlenty provided a prediction for 2010 and a long-term forecast.

“It’s going to be reduced somewhat,” he said, referencing the state’s budget shortfall.

The bigger issue for colleges and college towns is the more dramatic change coming to higher education as teaching moves from classrooms to computers.

“I think higher education is going to be radically transformed in the next 20 years in a way that people in higher education don’t see coming,” Pawlenty said.

College officials are planning for new buildings — “clinging to the status quo” — even in the face of a digital revolution that offers more efficient, and possibly more effective, ways of teaching students, he said.

“You’re going to see the higher education establishment have the rug pulled out from under them in a way that totally blindsides them,” he said.

“They better get ready. If I was Mankato State University, I’d be less worried about how many undergraduate buildings I’m going to be building and more worried about how I’m going to lead the digital revolution that’s coming.”"

from January 20, 2010 http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x1085945956/Pawlenty-Higher-ed-is-about-to-change

Value of a college education

Sherman Dorn has some things to say about the value of a college education at http://www.shermandorn.com/mt/archives/003227.html. (See also "value of college II" http://www.shermandorn.com/mt/archives/003222.html and "value of college I" http://www.shermandorn.com/mt/archives/003216.html)

Marc Bosquet

Marc Bosquet's work goes along nicely with all the other things I'm reading about our troubled higher educational system. See his "How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation"

College, Inc - for-profit colleges

See the PBS Frontline report on for-profit colleges, College, Inc. (May, 2010). There seems to be nothing inherently wrong with for-profits, but there are issues: prospective students are pressured to enroll by admissions counselors who are paid by enrollments. There are problems with student assumption of debt for expensive degrees are misrepresented and that do not result in jobs. Where does the money for those student loans come from? Financial aid sponsored by the federal government. See comments on the PBS Frontline website listed above - There are defenders and detractors both.

Go to college? Drop out? Or Not Go At All?

Definitely a theme about the value (and cost) of higher education going on! Caterina Fake posted "Want to be an entrepreneuer? Drop out of college" Chris Cameron at ReadWriteStart points out in The role of education in entrepreneurship that the comments are a valuable addition to the post. Erica Douglass had posted on the same topic "Do young entrepreneurs need to go to college?" Comments there too. My major take-aways: There's more than one way to live your life - and going to college isn't such a bad idea.