American higher education is rich in tradition. The trouble is that some of those traditions are now outdated, and if schools don’t change, they won’t survive.
So argues Davidson College professor Clark Ross in today’s Martin Center article.
He writes:
In prior years, the status quo filtered down from elite universities and helped “ground” post-secondary education with some positive moorings. Today is different. American post-secondary education confronts a bevy of challenges that threaten its stability. Adherence to the status quo has become an “anchor” preventing meaningful change.
Ross provides several examples. Here’s the first:
Labor-intensive in their financial model, higher-ed institutions are confronting financial challenges. Rising costs, for everything from health-care insurance to student services, threaten financial stability. This challenge is occurring just as families, particularly middle-income ones, are less able to respond to higher tuition and fees. Just look at the scores of small private schools that have failed in recent years, in all sections of the country. Possible remedies, such as shortened semesters and larger classes with smaller discussion sections, are promptly vetoed, with little study or discussion, by faculty groups.
Also, college planning is rooted in the past and unable to cope with current challenges. Ross writes:
The principal participants are generally the faculty and the administrative staff, with students and trustees offering advice and opinions. Given the self-interest that staff and faculty have, the strategic-planning process is inherently flawed. New initiatives must always be additive, without reducing any current activities. A planning process of this nature tends only to increase costs. Moving toward some form of zero-based budgeting and planning could address this issue.
He’s right. Many colleges will cling to their traditions until it’s too late.