School in person, standardized exams, expensive college tuition...the bubble just burst.

As a seasoned higher education professional that has been slowly observing and seeing the challenges and trials of how are education system is about to take on a new shape. The way I see it is education has been in a tight sweater a few sizes too small and we are beginning to see how we are about to get upgraded in size and style to fit more of the masses and hopefully become more equitable.  Let’s take school education first.  Students are in school approximately 185 DAYS per year, much of the year during winter time, there are multiple absences due to sickness and we have stayed with this model for a very long time. I remember my dad telling me he went to school during double sessions due to capacity in the school. What a concept. He would go to school part of the day and then other students would go a second shift later in the day. It seems like we are going to be looking into other models of teaching now that we are gaining familiarity with how virtual environments can have value as well. 185 days doesn’t cover the summer in which parents are tasked with finding camps and “fill in” daycare so that we can continue to keep the ships ‘a moving’ while parents work full time.  I’ve always wondered if there are other workforce models that have been adopted in European countries like “Return to work programs”, part time programs for working parents that need it for a certain phase of life”, alternate schedules for certain months of the year or longer maternity leaves.

SATs and standardized exams ? What does it all mean now in 2020? Students are taking a long time to stress about sitting for these exams and what does it produce in the end? For college or even after college? It seems like these exams originated in what students need to learn to be successful? But who does that serve and isn’t our world changing a bit more where our students and scholars can be more creative and be independent thinkers? So many young people can choose to go to college or become their own entrepreneurs.

Google and our world wide internet gives us the recipes of power.

There’s a big mental health crisis that has escalated at the college level. The American College Health Association found in 2019 that over the past year, 87% of college students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, 66% felt overwhelming anxiety, 56% felt things were hopeless and 13% seriously considered suicide. It may be time to start looking at education in the lower levels to see how this truly plays out for aspiring high school graduates.

I’ve worked at a college for 10 years, a small college and a bigger university and I’ve seen first hand how the increases of college tuition are one of the biggest barriers of how students and young people can get ahead in this world and stay at college.  For myself, I wasn’t going to pay for my Master’s degree so I vowed to work at a college so I could get the tuition remission break and take classes part time. It took me a long time to get a role at a college but I intended to do it and that’s how I earned my master’s degree. But for most young students, scholarships, grants and other means aren’t always the case for so many.  Our system invites that large student debt is ok. There is a bigger issue which is that student leaves college with a stressful mountain of debt which can sometimes be upwards of 200k And when it’s all said and done, what salary will actually pay this debt down?

While on furlough, it has me thinking...several employees were furloughed and about 40-50% of offices were diminished in order to save the operation of the college. Much of the tuition dollars and revenue pay the cost of the facilities and operations but also a bulk of that pay the salaries and in particular my salary.  But what if for a moment we just think about how high the tuition is for students? Does this even make sense?  To go to a college for 4 years and then come out with 200k in debt with a job that doesn’t pay that down in a lifetime? 

I think as a college administrator in the circle of these organizations, we need to start to think about ways to make education more affordable for the long term.  Can students get their programs done in a hybrid way? Possibly 2 years on campus and 2 years online.  Or maybe 4 years online with the same degree and credentials at a lower cost.  Traditional colleges and universities have ways we connect in person and create community, but there is also a longer term thought here. One that involves your career and life post college. Just like motherhood and various stages of anyone’s life, we create experiences that help us on our path, but I still think that these choices are critical in deciding how we create a future that sits well with us in the long term and our future generations.