An Unsustainable Course

President Bonner, my new boss at Gardner-Webb University, called a special meeting of faculty and staff today. It was a good news, bad news meeting. The good news--the freshman class is the brightest ever, and we're getting a raise! The bad news--higher education is on an unsustainable course. And the latter will ultimately impact the former. I'll tell you why.

Parents may already know that college tuition has outstripped wage increases among average Americans sixteen times over in just the last five years. Many of those costs to universities--ultimately passed on to parents and students--are brick and mortar--new buildings, including dormitories and especially student recreation and entertainment centers. Other costs are for talented teachers and administrators.

Make no mistake. Among universities of every ilk, the race for the brightest students is on. One reason is that more-capable students are statistically less likely to drop out. That was the other piece of bad news from President Bonner. Gardner-Webb is experiencing a five-year trend where fewer and fewer students either do not matriculate to the next level or fail to graduate at all.

We are not alone. Since 2008, college completion has fallen to less than 50 percent for all universities. I think we can agree that the Great Recession has hit more than home prices. So now, over one in five American families have significant college indebtedness at a level that exceeds even credit card debt, this at a time when many college graduates are underemployed or unemployed. 

The problem is such that even the brightest students and their parents are questioning the value of a college degree. What is the point of a degree if a career is not part of the deal? It's a fair question, especially in an age where knowledge acquisition is a click away. Want an actual college course? Many universities are giving them away for free, just to get their foot in the door.

The pundits and trend-watchers occupy space on a continuum from "take a deep breath and stay calm" to "the system as we know it is already dead." As I become increasingly acculturated in the world of higher education, I find myself somewhere in the middle. It's like I tell my masters and doctoral students in education--learn to work on a system, not the system. The system we know may or may not be dead, but it's fair to say that it's dying.

Everything we currently do to create and disseminate knowledge at every level of education should be subject to examination and change. We need to consider new revenue streams, public-private partnerships, new business models, new ways of convening and catalyzing learning communities. And we need to consider how we hold ourselves accountable for results.

I'm glad I attended the meeting today. President Bonner could have been any university president anywhere in the United States. I would love to hear what is happening where you work and what ideas you have. Let's get the conversation started about how we're going to make the unsustainable sustainable.