Complaining that they are paying for a “glorified Skype” service, a growing number of college and university students and their parents are demanding reductions in their tuition.
At Rutgers University in New Jersey, more than 30,000 people have signed a petition calling on the school to waive certain fees and discount tuition 20 percent. The University of California’s decision to teach only online this semester has raised cries for tuition cuts statewide.
Fewer than 25 percent of U.S. colleges and universities are committed to teaching primarily or completely in person this year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Teaching remotely, however, will add about 10 percent to a college or university’s cost of educating students, reported a study by the American Council on Education.
The cost of technology and training faculty to teach effectively online is separate from the costs of more stringent cleaning and sanitizing regimens for students who are on campus.
“Starting an online education program is incredibly expensive,” said Dominique Baker, an education policy professor at Southern Methodist University. “If you want quality, you have to have smaller classes.”
Without students physically present, the schools already are losing revenue from dining halls, bookstores, sports programs, and other income streams. Cutting tuition will increase the losses, which already could reach $23 billion this year by some estimates.
Parents and students also mourn the loss of out-of-class experiences, including being away from home, learning to room with others, studying and arguing together, and “going out for ice cream at one in the morning,” one parent said.
“This is a moment that is forcing students and parents to say, ‘What is the value… if I can’t set foot on campus?’,” said Marguerite Roza, Director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.
TREND FORECAST: Not only “What is the value of education if a student can’t set foot on campus,” what is the value of commercial and residential real estate in college towns?
The answer: Rust Belt 2.0. As we had forecast, the longer and harder colleges impose online learning and restrictive New ABnormal rules and regulations on students, the further enrollments will decline and the harder college towns will be hit. From hotels, restaurants, taverns, retailers, renters… businesses big and small will shrink and/or go broke.
