Comments on: First entry http://www.makingopportunityaffordable.org/2005/09/20/first-entry/ A Discussion on the Rising Costs of Higher Education Fri, 8 Aug 2008 18:34:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Pat Leonard http://www.makingopportunityaffordable.org/2005/09/20/first-entry/#comment-1 Pat Leonard Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:20:12 +0000 http://www.makingopportunityaffordable.org/2005/09/20/first-entry/#comment-1 The decades of annual tuition increases have been accompanied by array of apologetic and descriptive literature in both the professional and popular presses. The bulk identifies the unavoidable costs of doing business. Goods, services and salaries simply cost more each year and must be passed on to the student and their sponsors. Some authors put a positive spin on the otherwise bleak data. Students and their sponsors simply do not pay the full cost of their post-secondary education. Public institutions cover the difference with tax dollars, other government revenue, auxiliary enterprises and endowments. Private institutions do it primarily with endowments and other revenue sources. Yet students still pay more each year for the same ill-defined product. A multi faceted problem, much is said about what sectors outside of higher education can do to address the problem--more government aid, parents should starting saving more, high school should produce better prepared graduates, states should relaxed restrictions, etc. By default, cost increases are viewed as inevitable. Colleges are generally given a pass. Without greater scrutiny and restructuring of the inviolate academic production function (the mix of human, curriculum, delivery and relatively straight forward management principles), the status quo likely will be preserved and cost containment will remain a goal rather than a reality. Restructuring the production function will be widely perceived as an attack on faculty autonomy, prestige and status, academic freedom, quality and other academy traditions. The cynic in me also adds the potential threat to jobs. Productivity gains are possible but will require going to the core of our traditional beliefs regarding the delivery of quality learning opportunities. I have developed a description of a heretical, "no frills" approach to cost containment that I would be happy to share. pat leonard The decades of annual tuition increases have been accompanied by array of apologetic and descriptive literature in both the professional and popular presses. The bulk identifies the unavoidable costs of doing business. Goods, services and salaries simply cost more each year and must be passed on to the student and their sponsors. Some authors put a positive spin on the otherwise bleak data. Students and their sponsors simply do not pay the full cost of their post-secondary education. Public institutions cover the difference with tax dollars, other government revenue, auxiliary enterprises and endowments. Private institutions do it primarily with endowments and other revenue sources. Yet students still pay more each year for the same ill-defined product.

A multi faceted problem, much is said about what sectors outside of higher education can do to address the problem–more government aid, parents should starting saving more, high school should produce better prepared graduates, states should relaxed restrictions, etc. By default, cost increases are viewed as inevitable. Colleges are generally given a pass.

Without greater scrutiny and restructuring of the inviolate academic production function (the mix of human, curriculum, delivery and relatively straight forward management principles), the status quo likely will be preserved and cost containment will remain a goal rather than a reality. Restructuring the production function will be widely perceived as an attack on faculty autonomy, prestige and status, academic freedom, quality and other academy traditions. The cynic in me also adds the potential threat to jobs. Productivity gains are possible but will require going to the core of our traditional beliefs regarding the delivery of quality learning opportunities.

I have developed a description of a heretical, “no frills” approach to cost containment that I would be happy to share.

pat leonard

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