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Top Challenges Facing U.S. Higher Education

Last updated on: November 2, 2021

Historically, colleges and universities have relied on traditional economic models to sustain them. For the majority of private institutions, that meant enrolling a stable number of tuition-paying students. In the case of public institutions, it meant receiving consistent state appropriations, in addition to tuition revenue. The pace of change in the economy, as well as the global COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted the reliability of traditional models, putting pressure on institutions to readjust their strategies.

Below is a list of the top challenges confronting U.S. institutions:

• Student Enrollment is Declini ng Overall :  In a survey conducted by  Inside Higher Ed  and Gallup, only 34 percent of the institutions polled met their enrollment targets for the fall 2017 term by May 1 (declining from 37 percent in 2016 and 42 percent in 2015). In addition, 85 percent of senior admission staff reported that they are very concerned about reaching institutional enrollment targets.
• Financial Difficulties:  Inside Higher Ed also surveyed 400 chief business officers in 2017 and reported that 71 percent agreed that higher education institutions are facing significant financial difficulties. This is an increase of 8 percent from 2016.
• Fewer High School Graduates: T he Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education data estimated that in 2017 there were 80,000 fewer high school graduates than in the previous year, a decline of more than 2 percent. The sharpest declines were in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.
• Decreased State Funding: Multi-year decreased state funding for public institutions and community colleges has resulted in reduced critical services for students, putting significant strain on institutions.
• Lower World Rankings:  Decreased state funding for flagship universities is responsible, in part, for the United States slipping in world rankings.  Times Higher Education’s  publication of the 14th annual World University Rankings of 1,000 institutions from 77 countries revealed that America’s domination of the rankings has slipped. For the first time in the history of the report, no U.S. school ranked in the top two spots.
• Declining International Student Enrollments: According to estimates cited by ICEF Monitor, 28 percent of all international students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in 2001, but by 2014, the amount dropped to 22 percent. In addition, 40 percent of U.S. college and university deans expected declines in international student enrollments for the fall 2017 term.

To address these challenges, a number of institutions have reported that they will increase their focus on:

• Online Education:  A survey of chief academic officers conducted by  Inside Higher Ed  revealed that 82 percent plan to grow their institution’s online course offerings to expand access to  adult and non-traditional students  in the next year.
• International Student Recruitment:  In an attempt to offset the decline in the number of U.S. high school graduates, an increasing number of admission officers plan to expand their international student recruitment programs.
• College Mergers and Acquisitions:  Schools with little brand‐name recognition and low endowments may not be able to effectively navigate the impact of decreased domestic and international  student enrollments  and decreased state funding. Some institutions may choose to merge to save money, add depth or breadth to their operations, or supplement resources.

Updates for 2021

While the above challenges remain valid, there have been new trends heating up the higher education industry:

• COVID-19 Impact: As the global COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we live, it also resulted in a new group of challenges for higher ed. Not only did universities have to transition their on-campus classes to virtual settings, but they have also have had to address concerns around enrollment, finances, and student support . While it’s too early to tell what the long-term effects will be, presidents and chancellors have voiced their concerns in this  Inside Higher Ed survey . For more information about supporting students in virtual settings, check out our  Virtual Instruction Resources .
• AI Will Personalize the Student Journey: While some higher education professionals worry that AI could weaken the personal connection students have with universities, studies have shown that  AI boosts personalization . Administrators should explore the variety of benefits AI offers and identify ways to tailor student support for every step of their journey.
• Competency-Based Education: Competency-based education has long been inconsistent in the education landscape. Universities should work together to clearly define standards and measurements when awarding credit for work experience. This will help students graduate faster.
• Personal growth and career advancement are top-of-mind for online students: Online students seek to achieve personal and career success through their degrees. Our 2021 Voice of the Online Learner report shows that online learners list their top outcomes as salary increase, new career, a promotion, and increased confidence in the workplace.

The trends outlined above suggest that higher ed administrators will need to explore new technologies and strategies to reach  new student populations . Read the  full article  from  Enrollment Management Report  about shifts in higher education driving new approaches within institutions.

For higher education trends and approaches to change management, visit our  Resources  page.

Subscribe today  to  Enrollment Management Report  for proven solutions to admit, recruit, and retain high-quality students.

Research Report

Voice of the online learner 2023.

Inside Higher Ed: 2023 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers

State of the Education Market 2023 Graduate Report

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4 trends that will shape the future of higher education

Higher education needs to address the problems it faces by moving towards active learning, and teaching skills that will endure in a changing world. Image:  Vasily Koloda for Unsplash

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• Measures adopted during the pandemic do not address the root causes of the problems facing higher education.
• Institutions need to undertake true reform, moving towards active learning, and teaching skills that will endure in a changing world.
• Formative assessment is more effective than high-stakes exams in equipping students with the skills they need to succeed.

Since the onset of the recent pandemic, schools and universities have been forced to put a lot of their teaching online. On the surface, this seems to have spurred a series of innovations in the education sector. Colleges around the world embraced more flexibility, offering both virtual and physical classrooms. Coding is making its way into more school curricula , and the SAT exam for college admission in the US has recently been shortened and digitized , making it easier to take and less stressful for students.

These changes might give the illusion that education is undergoing some much-needed reform. However, if we look closely, these measures do not address the real problems facing higher education. In most countries, higher education is inaccessible to the socio-economically underprivileged, certifies knowledge rather than nurtures learning, and focuses on easily-outdated knowledge. In brief, it is failing on both counts of quality and access.

Have you read?

Four ways universities can future-proof education, the global education crisis is even worse than we thought. here's what needs to happen, covid-19’s impact on jobs and education: using data to cushion the blow, higher education trends.

In the last year, we have started to see examples of true reform, addressing the root causes of the education challenge. Below are four higher education trends we see taking shape in 2022.

1. Learning from everywhere

There is recognition that as schools and universities all over the world had to abruptly pivot to online teaching, learning outcomes suffered across the education spectrum . However, the experiment with online teaching did force a reexamination of the concepts of time and space in the education world. There were some benefits to students learning at their own pace, and conducting science experiments in their kitchens . Hybrid learning does not just mean combining a virtual and physical classroom, but allowing for truly immersive and experiential learning, enabling students to apply concepts learned in the classroom out in the real world.

So rather than shifting to a “learn from anywhere ” approach (providing flexibility), education institutions should move to a “learn from everywhere ” approach (providing immersion). One of our partners, the European business school, Esade, launched a new bachelor’s degree in 2021, which combines classes conducted on campus in Barcelona, and remotely over a purpose-designed learning platform, with immersive practical experiences working in Berlin and Shanghai, while students create their own social enterprise. This kind of course is a truly hybrid learning experience.

2. Replacing lectures with active learning

Lectures are an efficient way of teaching and an ineffective way of learning. Universities and colleges have been using them for centuries as cost-effective methods for professors to impart their knowledge to students.

However, with digital information being ubiquitous and free, it seems ludicrous to pay thousands of dollars to listen to someone giving you information you can find elsewhere at a much cheaper price. School and college closures have shed light on this as bad lectures made their way into parents’ living rooms, demonstrating their ineffectiveness.

Education institutions need to demonstrate effective learning outcomes, and some are starting to embrace teaching methods that rely on the science of learning. This shows that our brains do not learn by listening, and the little information we learn that way is easily forgotten (as shown by the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve , below). Real learning relies on principles such as spaced learning, emotional learning, and the application of knowledge.

The educational establishment has gradually accepted this method, known as 'fully active learning'. There is evidence that it not only improves learning outcomes but also reduces the education gap with socio-economically disadvantaged students. For example, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU based in Texas, launched an Honors Program using fully active learning in 2020, combined with internships at regional employers. This has given students from traditionally marginalised backgrounds the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained at university in the real world.

3. Teaching skills that remain relevant in a changing world

According to a recent survey, 96% of Chief Academic Officers at universities think they are doing a good job preparing young people for the workforce . Less than half (41%) of college students and only 11% of business leaders shared that view. Universities continue to focus on teaching specific skills involving the latest technologies, even though these skills and the technologies that support them are bound to become obsolete. As a result, universities are forever playing catch up with the skills needed in the future workplace.

What we need to teach are skills that remain relevant in new, changing, and unknown contexts. For example, journalism students might once have been taught how to produce long-form stories that could be published in a newspaper; more recently, they would have been taught how to produce shorter pieces and post content for social media. More enduring skills would be: how to identify and relate to readers, how to compose a written piece; how to choose the right medium for your target readership. These are skills that cross the boundaries of disciplines, applying equally to scientific researchers or lawyers.

San Francisco-based Minerva University, which shares a founder with the Minerva Project, has broken down competencies such as critical thinking or creative thinking into foundational concepts and habits of mind . It teaches these over the four undergraduate years and across disciplines, regardless of the major a student chooses to pursue.

4. Using formative assessment instead of high-stake exams

If you were to sit the final exam of the subject you majored in today, how would you fare? Most of us would fail, as that exam did not measure our learning, but rather what information we retained at that point in time. Equally, many of us hold certifications in subject matters we know little about.

Many people gain admission to higher education based on standardized tests that skew to a certain socio-economic class , rather than measure any real competency level. Universities then try to rectify this bias by imposing admission quotas, rather than dissociating their evaluation of competence from income level. Many US universities are starting to abandon standardized tests, with Harvard leading the charge , and there have been some attempts to replace high-stake exams with other measures that not only assess learning outcomes but actually improve them.

Formative assessment, which entails both formal and informal evaluations through the learning journey, encourages students to actually improve their performance rather than just have it evaluated. The documentation and recording of this assessment includes a range of measures, replacing alphabetical or numerical grades that are uni-dimensional.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.

The Forum's work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit , and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business , The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap , Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work , Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators , the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality , the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice .

The International School in Geneva just launched its Learner Passport that includes measures of creativity, responsibility and citizenship. In the US, a consortium of schools have launched the Mastery Transcript Consortium that has redesigned the high school transcript to show a more holistic picture of the competencies acquired by students.

Education reform requires looking at the root cause of some of its current problems. We need to look at what is being taught (curriculum), how (pedagogy), when and where (technology and the real world) and whom we are teaching (access and inclusion). Those institutions who are ready to address these fundamental issues will succeed in truly transforming higher education.

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A crisis is looming for U.S. colleges — and not just because of the pandemic

This article about college financial health was produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. This is part 1 of the Colleges in Crisis series .

Dozens of colleges and universities nationwide started 2020 already under financial stress. They’d spent the past decade grappling with declining enrollments and weakening support from state governments.

Now, with the added pressures of the coronavirus pandemic , the fabric of American higher education has become even more strained: The prospect of lower revenues has already forced some schools to slash budgets and could lead to waves of closings, experts and researchers say.

To examine how institutions were positioned to respond to such a crisis, The Hechinger Report created a Financial Fitness Tracker that put the nation’s public institutions and four-year nonprofit colleges and universities through a financial stress test, examining key metrics including enrollment, tuition revenue, public funding and endowment health.

Schools faring the worst in these areas — meaning that they are projected to dip under the 20th percentile in a particular category — are marked with warning signs in the tracker. A total of 2,662 schools were included in the analysis, and 2,264 had enough data to be evaluated in every category. All data predates the pandemic.

Our analysis of the stress test results found:

• Nationwide, more than 500 colleges and universities show warning signs in two or more metrics.
• The problems were not evenly spread among states. Combined, Ohio and Illinois have more than 10 percent of all the institutions potentially facing trouble. Ohio has 36 institutions with two or more warning signs. Illinois has 26.
• Roughly 1,360 colleges and universities have seen declines in first-year fall enrollment since 2009, including about 800 four-year institutions.
• Nearly 30 percent of all four-year schools brought in less tuition revenue per student in 2017-18 than in 2009-10.
• About 700 public campuses received less in state and local appropriations in 2017-18 than in 2009-10, and about 190 private four-year institutions saw the size of their endowments fall relative to their costs.

Many factors can cause colleges to struggle financially, according to a review of the data and interviews with 39 college finance researchers, student advocates, state officials, school administrators and faculty members. Over the last decade, enrollment slipped as the economy grew. Demographics are working against institutions in parts of the country as the number of teens — and thus the number of high school graduates — drops. State support still lags behind what it was before the Great Recession. Many colleges and universities have a history of mismanaging their finances , increasing spending even as enrollments fell or going deeply into debt to construct new buildings.

At worst, institutions under financial stress can fold — sometimes overnight, as government and accrediting oversight fails to prevent precipitous closures that throw students’ lives into disarray. Even in the case of orderly closings, students’ educations can be significantly disrupted — many drop out and never finish their degrees.

More than 50 public and nonprofit institutions have closed or merged since 2015, and experts expect to see more closures in the coming academic year. Even if colleges manage to stay open, they may have to make deep cuts to do so, which could ultimately hurt students as well.

“Think of the revenue shocks these universities are suffering,” said Gregory Price, an economics and finance professor at the University of New Orleans, noting that if students aren’t on campuses for the coming academic year or choose not to attend at all, schools could miss out on even more. “I don’t want to sound too alarmist, but this could possibly be devastating.”

The “stress test” that informed The Hechinger Report’s Financial Fitness Tracker was developed by Robert Zemsky, a University of Pennsylvania education professor; Susan Shaman, the former director of institutional research at Penn; and Susan Campbell Baldridge, a professor and former provost at Middlebury College. Their methodology draws on a uniform set of federal data that most schools have reported steadily over the past decade and allows public and private institutions to be scored according to similar standards. (For-profit schools are not included in their methodology.)

The Hechinger Report’s Financial Fitness Tracker takes the researchers' “stress test” and applies it to individual schools to make the scores transparent and public.

For private colleges, the Hechinger Report tool tracked enrollment, retention, average tuition revenue per student and endowment-to-spending ratios. For public four-year colleges, the metrics were enrollment, retention, average tuition revenue per student and state funding. And for public two-year colleges, the analysis checked enrollment, state and local funding and the ratio of tuition revenue to instructional costs.

Related : Enrollment and financial crises threaten growing list of academic disciplines

The stress test is not a crystal ball to predict closures. Many colleges on the verge of collapse remain that way for years, continually finding ways to survive. Others, whose circumstances may look less dire, can close suddenly. Interpreting the nuances of any given institution’s financial situation is complicated.

Even so, experts say the metrics in the tool provide valuable insights. “They’re a really great starting point,” said Doug Webber, an associate economics professor at Temple University. Enrollment and tuition revenue, in particular, “don’t tell you everything, but they get you a lot of the way there.”

For more of NBC News' in-depth reporting, download the NBC News app

A deeper look at Ohio, which is one of the centers of the nation’s higher education financial crisis, shows how these trends interact to create different forms of financial stress at different types of institutions. In Ohio, state budget cuts and a declining population of teens have combined to create financial struggles for schools. Ohio has lagged behind the national average in restoring funding to higher education following the 2008 recession. All kinds of institutions — from large public universities to small private schools — face challenges.

“We’re just swimming deep in the ocean right now,” said Chris Pines, a former full-time philosophy and humanities professor at the University of Rio Grande in southeastern Ohio, who recently lost his position due to the school's financial problems. “We’re treading water and there’s no raft. I don’t know what the long-term future looks like.”

Enrollment declines lead to difficult cuts

Colleges have lost hundreds of thousands of students since 2010, when undergraduate enrollment peaked at just above 18 million. That figure declined to 16.6 million in 2018. Nearly 600 two- and four-year institutions saw their incoming fall enrollments drop more than a quarter in that time period.

“If your enrollment is cratering, then you’re probably not going to be raising tuition, because that’s just going to compound the problem,” Temple University’s Webber said. “So you’re going to be spending less.”

The University of Rio Grande, a private four-year university in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, has struggled with falling enrollment for years. The university, which partners with the public Rio Grande Community College, plays an important role for the surrounding counties, which include some of Ohio’s poorest residents. About half of the students at the two schools receive Pell Grants, a form of federal aid for low-income students.

Both institutions have recently faltered. Their combined enrollment fell from 3,264 students in 2012-13 to 2,227 in 2018-19, according to federal data. The number of high school students in Ohio has dropped within the last decade, leading to fewer high school graduates, according to state and federal data. Those who do enroll at Rio Grande’s campuses often don’t stay; annual retention rates hover just above 50 percent for full-time students and are often even lower for part-time students.

Related: With enrollment sliding, liberal arts colleges struggle to make a case for themselves

In April 2019, Rio Grande faculty secretly held a vote of no confidence in the schools’ governing boards, alleging that administrators had kept spending as if the supply of new students would keep increasing. The board’s mistakes, the faculty argued, had led to “persistent and severe budget deficits.”

Shortly after that no-confidence vote, 18 professors — about a fifth of the full-time faculty — were told they would be let go, according to Rio Grande officials. (Two were brought back full-time and two will work as part-time adjuncts.) Programs that were deemed too small were eliminated entirely, such as the school’s music program.

Pines, who was among the 18 let go and will only be teaching part-time this fall, said many faculty viewed the budget problems as a “foreseeable train wreck.”

News How higher education's own choices left it vulnerable to the pandemic crisis

The reductions saved the school nearly $1 million, according to Ryan Smith, the university’s president, who assumed his role in October 2019, after the cuts had been made. He said he understood the frustration of faculty members, but that the downsizing had been necessary. “We kind of bottomed out as far as what we were offering before,” he said.

Pines says he can’t completely fault the prior administration for making the tough cuts, but he worries for recent and future graduates: “How would the bigger world perceive the value of our degree if, basically, you gutted most of your qualified faculty?”

Related: Some colleges seek radical solutions to survive

Smith has restructured some of the university’s debt to fully fund pension liabilities and hired a marketing director; the administration also added more sports teams to try to attract students. Smith projects enrollment growth this fall and believes the school will ultimately be able to increase the number of programs it offers. When that happens, it’ll be a challenge to figure out “how do we grow back to where we were?” he said. “But we’ve got to be able to survive today.”

State funding cuts add to financial problems

As in most states , Ohio’s higher education system hasn’t fully recovered from the recession of a decade ago. In 2018, the state was still spending 17 percent less per student than it spent in 2008. Nationally, that figure was 13 percent less. More than half of public campuses nationwide have had state and local appropriations decrease since 2008, according to federal data.

Higher education finance experts predict more cuts ahead for public institutions as the coronavirus decimates state budgets. Some have already started. In May, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, announced $110 million in higher education cuts, a nearly 4 percent budget reduction for each institution.

News Dozens of colleges have abruptly closed — and efforts to protect students have failed

Eighteen Ohio institutions lost more than $1 million each. The cut for the University of Akron, for instance, was more than $3.7 million. The school had already run deficits for the last three years and, in late spring, announced that it needed to shave $65 million from its $325 million budget. In mid-July, the board of trustees voted to eliminate 97 full-time professor positions — more than 1 in 6 at the university — and 60 other staff members. (The plan still needs to be ratified by the union.)

Related: Budget cuts are taking the heaviest toll on colleges that serve the neediest students

The budget cut was based on “significant” revenue losses from the spring campus closure, enrollment projections and state funding trends, Christine Boyd, director of media relations, said in an email.

“Throughout the budget process, great care has been taken to preserve academic quality and ensure that support services — from financial aid to academic support — remain strong to help our students on their degree journey,” Boyd added.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted suggested in June to the news website Cleveland.com that there were limits to how much the state could help struggling institutions. “You can never subsidize something enough to escape the laws of economics,” he said.

Husted told The Hechinger Report that the state intended to continue supporting higher education but had to balance the budget. He added that the higher education landscape had already been changing, with students concerned about the cost of a degree and looking for other options.

“They’re facing great challenges,” he said, adding that the colleges that can adapt will succeed. “That’s just the reality.”

Pamela Schulze, a family studies professor at the University of Akron and its faculty union president, says the state has to help public colleges and universities survive, including by providing more funding. “Of course the state can do something about it, because it’s the state university system,” Schulze said. “If they leave their university system in tatters, we really are not going to be able to fulfill our role in the state of Ohio.”

Schools with shrinking endowments scramble to raise money

State money and tuition are not schools’ only sources of funds. Many colleges and universities rely on money from their endowments, particularly to weather financial storms. Schools typically draw down a percentage of their endowments every year, trying to spend only the interest and keep the funds growing.

The larger their endowment, the less schools have to rely on other sources of revenue, and the greater financial stability they have. But about 330 schools in our tracker saw their endowments decrease over the last decade relative to their costs, according to federal data; 57 percent were private institutions.

Among them is Wilberforce University, a historically Black university outside of Dayton, Ohio. Its endowment dropped from $12 million in 2014 to $8.2 million in 2018.

News Getting a college degree was their dream. Then their school suddenly closed for good.

The median endowment for historically Black colleges and universities is half that of other colleges and universities of the same size, according to a 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office. Schools with small endowments were already in a precarious position, Price, the University of New Orleans professor, said. Now, he added, coronavirus-related revenue losses threaten to make it even harder for these schools to survive.

“It’s going to be very challenging for a place like Wilberforce to sustain itself,” Price said.

Related: Already stretched universities now face tens of billions in endowment losses

Wilberforce is currently on probation with its accreditor because of financial problems; the issues stretch back for years. In 2012, hundreds of students demanded transfer applications as a protest because “we’re not getting our quality education,” as one student put it, according to a local news report. In 2013, students held another protest , holding signs saying “Fix the dorms now” and “Broken promises,” according to a news report.

In the spring of 2019, Wilberforce’s president, Elfred Pinkard, announced an ambitious effort to raise $2 million in about two months and $5 million by the end of the year. Wilberforce fell well short of those goals, but, buoyed by a $1.2 million anonymous gift last fall, coupled with $1.7 million in loan forgiveness, Pinkard said, they met the $5 million goal in June.

Fundraising is a crucial way to boost endowments, but Price said HBCUs have historically struggled to get philanthropists’ attention, despite the important role they play in helping Black Americans achieve upward mobility. To survive, schools must find ways to persuade more donors to give.

Pinkard, who was appointed at the end of 2017, remains optimistic. In response to student concerns raised during the protests, members of the board of trustees were replaced. Officials have renovated and repaired campus buildings and started a dual-enrollment program for nearby high schoolers.

“We have been very intentional and disciplined in our attention to charting a sustainable path forward,” Pinkard said in a statement. “We join the community of institutions in higher education who are all vulnerable but determined to reimagine higher education in a post-COVID-19 environment.”

Still, with too many colleges competing for a shrinking pool of students and the consequences of the coronavirus bearing down, higher education may face tumultuous years ahead, Price warned.

“A lot of underendowed, financially fragile institutions are going to have to shut their doors, unfortunately,” he said.

Sign up for The Hechinger Report’s higher education newsletter .

Sarah Butrymowicz is senior editor for investigations at The Hechinger Report. 

Pete D’Amato is the data visualization developer at The Hechinger Report. 

The Seekers

• Posted November 7, 2022
• By Lory Hough
• Entrepreneurship

In the education world, it’s easy to identify problems, less easy to find solutions. Everyone has a different idea of what could or should happen, and change is never simple — or fast. But solutions are out there, especially if you look close to the source: people who have been impacted in some way by the problem. Meet eight current students and recent graduates who experienced something — sometimes pain, sometimes frustration, sometimes hope — and are now working on ways to help others.

SEEKER: Elijah Armstrong, Ed.M.'20

“This motivated me to become an activist in the space of disability and education,” he says. “Education is supposed to act as a gateway for students, but far too often, for people with disabilities, it acts as a barrier.”

His experience led him to start a nonprofit while he was in college at Penn State called Equal Opportunities for Students “as a way to help tell the stories of marginalized students in education.” Then last year, he won the 2021 Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award, an award given by the American Association of People with Disabilities that recognizes up and coming leaders with disabilities. With his prize money, Armstrong started his own award program: the Heumann-Armstrong Educational Awards, named partly for disability rights activist Judy Heumann. The award is given annually to students (sixth grade and up) who have experienced ableism — the social prejudice against people with disabilities — and have fought against it.

“Students with disabilities face barriers in education that aren’t faced by their non-disabled peers,” he says. “At all levels of education, students are forced to do intense emotional and logistical labor to fight for accommodations or go without accommodations at all. This is on top of the day-to-day challenges of having a disability or chronic illness, and the challenges that go along with that. Students with disabilities should have ways of being compensated for that labor and denoting that labor on resumes.”

One of the unique aspects of the award program, he says, is that winners aren’t restricted on how they can use their award money, although several from the inaugural round have used it to fund their own activism. For example, Otto Lana, a high school student, started a company called Otto’s Mottos that sells T-shirts and letterboards to help purchase communication devices for non-speaking students who can’t afford them. Himani Hitendra, a middle schooler, has been producing videos to educate her teachers and classmates about her disability, as well as ways they can be more inclusive. Jennifer Lee, a Princeton student, founded the Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative.

Armstrong, who is also currently living and working in Washington, D.C. as a fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, says beyond awarding money to other young activists, one of the biggest and most impactful ways he thinks he’s helping to challenge the education system is through the videos his nonprofit produces for each of the winners.

“We highlight the award winners and give them a platform to tell their stories in a way that gives them agency,” he says. “Education doesn’t often take the voices or experiences of disabled students into account when discussing accessibility in education. We want to make sure we develop a platform that gives voice to the narratives of these students, so that everyone can listen to and learn from them.”

Learn about his nonprofit: equalopportunitiesforstudents.org

SEEKER: Elisa Guerra, Ed.M.’21

In the early 2000s, Guerra wasn’t finding the kind of educational experience for her young children near her home in Aguascalientes, México, that she was looking for — one that was warm, but also ambitious and fun and stimulating.

“I saw a gap between what schools offered at that time and what parents like me were dreaming of for their young,” she says. “After my son went through three different schools and none was a true fit, I decided that I needed to imagine and create the school I wanted for my children.”

So Guerra, without any formal teaching experience, started Colegio Valle de Filadelfia, a small preschool with 17 kids that was based on what she was doing informally at home with her ownchildren. Those first few years, she says she pretty much did every job the school had, learning along the way.

“I taught. I answered the phone. I designed our programs. I managed promotion and enrollment,” she says. “I also changed diapers, cleaned noses, and mopped puke.” For many years, she served as the principal.

She also fine-tuned their learning model, what they started calling Método Filadelfia , or the Philadelphia Method. Based on the work of Glenn Doman and The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, their model isn’t your typical approach for helping young children learn.

“We teach — playfully and respectfully — tiny children, starting at age three, to read, and [we also teach] art, physical excellence, and world cultures as the first steps of global citizenship,” she says. Music lessons, including violin, are started at the preschool level, and classes are taught in two foreign languages in addition to a student’s first language. When Guerra first started the school, there were no commercial textbooks that fit what she was trying to do, so she wrote her own.

Since then, schools across Mexico, as well as Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador now use her textbooks. Al Jazeera made a documentary about her as part of their Rebel Educator series. Twice she was a finalist for Global Teacher of the Year. Just before the pandemic hit, she was appointed to unesco’s International Commission on the Futures of Education, a small group that includes writers, activists, professors (including Professor Fernando Reimers, Ed.M.’84, Ed.D.’88), anthropologists, entrepreneurs, and country presidents. (When UNESCO first reached out to her, she thought it was a scam and almost didn’t respond back to them.)

And it all started 23 years ago with an idea and, as she says, some naivete.

“In retrospect, it was crazy. Most people I know who have opened schools have done it ‘the right way,’ if such a thing exists,” Guerra says. “They were experienced teachers, or they even ran schools as principals, before jumping out to create a new one. They could do better because they knew better. I did not have that advantage. I had so much to learn myself. But in a way, that was also a blessing because I also had much less to ‘unlearn.’ …I said before that I became a teacher accidentally, but that is only partly accurate. Indeed, I was not expecting my life to take the path of education. But once I found myself there, it was my decision to stay. The discovery of a passion for teaching was the accident. To embrace the teaching profession was a choice.”

Read more about her work: elisaguerra.net/english/

SEEKER: Cynthia Hagan, Ed.M.’22

“I’ve lived here for 35 years and have witnessed the impact of poverty and the opioid crisis on our communities,” she says, “both on current realities and hopes for the future.”

Initially, when she first applied to Harvard, she thought she’d create a children’s program using puppets, inspired, in part, by Sesame Street , but after taking a few classes, Hagan’s ideas on how to help children in her state evolved.

“I became fascinated with the concept of designing for joy as introduced to us in the course What Learning Designers Do,” taught by Senior Lecturer Joe Blatt, she says. “Joy is an often-overlooked ingredient for learning.” The power of story also began to stick.

After creating a class project called Adventure Box, focused on increasing third-grade reading levels for children experiencing homelessness, Hagan’s idea for Book Joy emerged.

Research shows that children who are not proficient in reading by the third grade, when they transition from learning to read to reading to learn, are four times more likely to drop out of high school, and six times as likely to be incarcerated as an adult.

“I knew that the overall thirdgrade reading levels of children experiencing poverty in rural Appalachia were significantly lagging,” she says. “It just seemed like a logical move to modify Adventure Box to meet the needs of this population.”

She decided to focus first on McDowell County, West Virginia, once one of the largest coal producing areas in the world, where the child poverty rate in 2019 was a staggering 48.6%.

Hagan’s idea with Book Joy is simple but potentially life altering for the young children they began targeting starting this past September: give each incoming kindergarten student a curated box filled with high-quality books (printed and audio) based on interest and reading level, plus fun related activities to conceptualize the reading experience, and then follow up with new boxes quarterly (December, March, June) until third grade. The goal is to significantly increase third-grade reading proficiency.

For the launch this fall, Book Joy partnered with Scholastic to get discounted books and with Random House for free books. McDowell’s assistant superintendent/federal programs manager has been actively involved. Twice a year, Book Joy will conduct assessments with the students, their parents, and their teachers, to see how each box is working, and then tweak the content. They’ll also use feedback to improve on future boxes and teachers can use assessments to provide individualized intervention, as needed.

“When their interests, reading levels, or personal circumstances change,” says Hagan, “so does the contents of their box.”

Another goal for Book Joy, beyond improving third-grade reading proficiency for children in one of the poorest districts in Hagan’s state, is something fundamental to this former librarian: to bring joy to reading and learning, hence the name, Book Joy.

“Each box is truly a gift created just for them. No two boxes will be alike because no two children are alike,” she says. “And we are designing these boxes from an edutainment perspective, putting as much focus on eliciting joy as we do in choosing the best aligned reading material. We want every design element of the box, from the moment the children lay eyes on it to the emptying of every item, to elicit joy.”

Discover how you can help: givebookjoy.org

SEEKER: Ben Mackey, Ed.M.’13

In 2020, the district unanimously passed the Environmental & Climate Resolution, a massive overhaul of how schools in the Dallas Independent School District approach climate change. It includes reviewing and revising current policies across all schools and setting goals for reducing the district’s environmental footprint, while also keeping an eye on spending.

Mackey, a former math teacher and principal, says that it was young people in the district who really got the ball rolling when it came to making sure the district was thinking about its impact on the environment and then making a plan for change — something few districts are doing.

“The genesis of this resolution and the work really started with students,” he says. “When I took office in 2019, there was a small but mighty group of students who had been coming and attending every board meeting and sharing their perspectives and imploring the school board to make strides in its sustainability work. I was able to work with these students to get this resolution drafted and passed by the school board.”

What passed is a 10-year plan to drastically improve the district’s sustainability practices, including some steps that have already been taken, including switching energy plans and contracting for 100% renewable energy, which is expected to save the district $1 million a year on top of the energy benefits. By 2027, all plates, utensils, and trash bags will be 100% compostable.

Longer term, the district has applied for a federal grant to pilot 25 electric busses and will begin moving away from gas-powered maintenance equipment. It will limit synthetic fertilizer. The district also created a set of policies that say any new school built or existing school remodeled must include LEED silver certified standards. Another goal is to plant more trees to combat the “heat island” effect that schools that are primarily blacktop experience.

“One area that stuck out to our community group and administration as they were formulating the recommendation is how the increase in tree canopy cover can combat carbon emissions, improve learning environments, and serve to decrease energy usage,” he says. “We’re aiming to increase canopy cover at all campuses to at least 30% and we’re working with a number of phenomenal partner organizations to get this started, including the Texas Trees Foundation and the Cool Schools Parks initiatives.”

Mackey, who is the executive director of a statewide education nonprofit called Texas Impact Network(in addition to being on the school board), says his advice to other districts that want to reduce their school’s climate footprint is to get buy-in across the district — and just get started.

“Dallas ISD’s process started with students at our board meetings, speaking every single month, about the need and importance for this to happen. These students reached out to trustees and school staff and continued to come forward with both a charge and ideas for what success looks like,” he says. “The hardest part is often to get it off the ground and I’d encourage all who care about this to call your school board trustees and be a consistent and sensible voice who will share their mind and provide concrete solutions to make this work happen.”

Sign up for his monthly newsletters: benfordisd.com

SEEKER: Michael Ángel Vázquez, Ed.M.’19, current Ph.D. student

That’s why he’s trying to make the graduate years, at least for Ed School students, less stressful.

“I just went through this huge burst of depression my first year, my master’s year,” he says, “and I realized that I wasn’t the only one that was going through that.”

Part of the problem, says Vázquez, a former teacher in the Navajo Nation, is that while universities often offer great resources, many students don’t know where to turn for help or don’t even think they should ask for help.

“There’s so much pressure to feel like you know everything and not admit when you don’t,” he says.

Vázquez decided to create a comprehensive student-to-student guidebook, based on resources he knew about and those shared by other students. This “labor of love,” as he calls it, includes everything from where to find books and readings to how to save money, including where to grocery shop, how to sign up for MassHealth, how to apply for snap benefits, and how to sell items to other students through the Harvard Grad Market. He has a section on job hunting. The mental health section offers tips for finding therapists, wellness options at Harvard, ways to combat vitamin D deficiencies, and advice for advocating for yourself. Other documents include ways to prep for graduation, must-have lists for living in a colder climate, and a link to local tenants’ rights.

“I just felt like it was important to do whatever was possible for the next group of students to have a safe, happy experience, because, ultimately, learning should be fun, should be exciting,” he says. Endemic to being back in school, with all of the pressure, “it’s very common for that fun and excitement of learning” to take a back seat. “I don’t want that be the case. This guidebook is just one way to mitigate that a little bit and make it more fun and exciting for people.”

None of this support and concern for the well-being of other students surprises Vázquez’s professors, who point out that he has been one of the most active students since he got to Harvard. He’s been especially in-tune with first-gen students (he’s first gen, starting with attending the University of Southern California) and for students of color, both at the Ed School and at the college, where he’s a tutor at Adams House. He’s also been a teaching fellow for ethnic studies classes at the Ed School since 2019 and will now help teach ethnic studies to undergraduates at Harvard starting this fall. He hopes creating and sharing his guide helps all of the students he’s around.

“As a student and as somebody who is a teaching fellow and who has worked in different organizing groups on campus and off campus, I see that grad school and organizing are often very stressful,” he says. “I really want to drill that it’s OK to not know something and that learning is shared, which is why I did this. There were things I didn’t know at first. I want to share that knowledge with others, and I want it to be community-built. When you admit you don’t know something, that’s when you truly learn something.”

SEEKER: Grace Kossia, Ed.M.’17

“Anytime one of my friends unconsciously has a math moment, I always yell out, ‘You’re a mathematician!’” she says. “Too many people are walking through this life convinced that they could never be good at math. Math isn’t meant to be something we’re good at — it’s simply something we do, and when mistakes happen, we learn.”

It’s this philosophy that she and her coworkers bring to their edtech nonprofit based in Brooklyn, New York, playfully called Almost Fun, which last year helped 1.5 million middle and high school students with free online math lessons.

“The title ‘Almost Fun’ winks at the way students perk up when they engage with our resources and find unexpected joy while learning math,” she says. “We value being real with our students, and part of that is understanding that math can be a hard pill to swallow and that schoolwork may not be the number one thing students are going to want to do. However, with the right approach, we can curate experiences that make math learning ‘almost fun’ and something to look forward to for even the least confident learners.”

The backbone of their approach includes explaining concepts using easy-to-understand examples, rather than through clinical, mathematical definitions. Their distributive property lesson, for example, relates expanding and factoring an expression to opening and closing an umbrella. Their functions lesson uses a vending machine to explain how functions represent the relationship between inputs and outputs. Another lesson compares absolute value to the overall power of a superhero or villain.

Kossia says their site is meant to complement existing online sites like Khan Academy, which she says has been a trailblazer in edtech that serves many students. But as helpful as Khan is, some students still need more help — or just a different approach.

“There is still a critical number of students who struggle with high levels of math anxiety and low math confidence, which limits their ability to take full advantage of the support online resources like Khan offer,” she says. “At Almost Fun, we want to position ourselves as a complement to these existing resources by using creative math analogies to explain foundational math concepts and bridge the gaps in students’ math confidence and motivation, so that they can better benefit from the support other resources offer.”

Kossia remembers the gaps she struggled to fill after she immigrated to the United States from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the time, she was good at math, and decided to major in mechanical engineering in college. She had a hard time.

“I quickly realized that I had many gaps in my understanding of math and physics, which were essential skills I needed in this journey,” she says. “This chipped away at my confidence, but I was determined not to give up. I wanted to prove to myself and other people like me, especially Black women, that it could be done.” Later, when she worked as a physics teacher, her struggles helped her relate to students who were anxious about physics and pushed her to design creative lessons that focused on learning by doing, as opposed to learning by memorizing.

“At Almost Fun, I do the same thing but with math as the primary focus,” she says. “We believe math is more than just sets of memorized steps; it’s a way of describing relationships between things in our world.”

Access resources and lesson plans: almostfun.org

SEEKER: Shaina Lu, Ed.M.’17

“Learning about gentrification is unavoidable in placebased learning in a place like Chinatown,” Lu says. “However, it could be kind of a drag to spend your fourth-grade summer learning about gentrification.”

So Lu, an artist and former media arts teacher in Boston Public Schools, decided to make learning about this heavy topic more interesting: she created a graphic novel.

“ Noodle and Bao was my response to that feeling. I wanted to write and draw a story that elementary kids would devour and love — There’s a cat selling food in a cart! Neighborhood kids dress up and infiltrate a snobby restaurant! — but would also pay homage to some of these inspirational histories and present-day struggles they were learning about,” she says. While the novel isn’t specifically set in Boston’s Chinatown — it’s set in a fictional Town — Lu says it’s inspired by the many residents, activists, and community members of Boston’s Chinatown that she has met and worked with over the years — people who “have done so much exciting work that is more than comic book-worthy.”

Set to publish in the fall of 2024 by HarperCollins, Noodle and Bao also explores historical events from Boston’s Chinatown, most notably a fight for the land that now houses the community center where Lu worked and where elderly residents passionately voiced their displeasure to hotel developers at a meeting.

Lu says the graphic novel is just one example of something that has been important to her for many years: the intersection of art, education, and activism. Another example is a creative placemaking project she recently worked on in Chinatown with a local student in partnership with a local resident.

“The resident, youth, and I painted a community mural that featured [the resident’s] personal lens on the history of Chinatown,” she says. “The mural was painted on a condemned building on a border of Chinatown that is elslowly being eroded away by the neighboring district. It’s hard to parse out which separate part was ‘art’ or ‘activism,’ or ‘education,’ so I feel like they’re interwoven.”

Although she’s interested in teaching, Lu says classrooms are tricky places. “There’s an inherent power structure with the teacher as the fountain of knowledge and students as recipients of that.” Instead, “I’m interested in disrupting the capitalist status quo of education with ‘winners and losers’ as described by activist- philosopher Grace Lee Boggs in her 1970 essay, Education: The Great Obsession .”

She’s not interested, though, in disrupting the system on her own. “I hope to be, alongside others, building a new system, where people’s needs and interests and social responsibility define their learning, rather than their ability to produce,” she says. “There’s actually so much incredible person- centered education out there, both in and out of schools. I’ve worked with teachers who engaged students with civics project-based learning about gentrification, youth workers who have helped young people organize community gardens for their neighborhoods, and more.”

Learn about her art: shainadoesart.com

SEEKER: Justis Lopez, Current Ed.L.D. student

“I hold near to me that there are ancestors that wanted to study, but didn’t get the chance to,” he says. “There are relatives that wanted to pursue their dreams, but they put food on the table instead so that I could pursue mine, and for that I am eternally grateful and full of joy.”

It’s this gratitude and happiness for life that Lopez, a DJ known as DJ Faro (for the Spanish word, lightkeeper), is bringing to his time at the Ed School and to Project Happyvism, the culturally responsive nonprofit he started with his friend, Ryan Parker, a youth empowerment teacher and activist, that is rooted in hip hop and is a combination of happiness + activism.

“Project Happyvism is a feeling, a philosophy, and a movement that centers joy and love as a radical form of activism,” he says, meaning the commitment to loving yourself and those around you unconditionally.

“The organization embraces the beauty and need for joy,” he says, “and emphasizes the fact that maintaining happiness about who you are and what you think, say, and do in a world that consistently goes against the grain of your identity is a form of activism in itself, hence: happyvism.”

The project started from a song and video that Lopez and Parker wrote and produced and has since expanded to include helping others write songs (what they call “joy anthems”) in their recording studio, publishing a children’s book, Happyvism: A Story About Choosing Joy , and working with K–12 districts on related curriculum. They also started Joy Lab, a community gathering space in Manchester, Connecticut, where Lopez grew up, that offers yoga, wellness and equity workshops, and book readings. He plans on starting a Joy Lab at the Ed School during his time here.

“I’m just trying to create the spaces I wish I had for myself growing up,” Lopez says. “Spaces that center healing, hope, and hip hop.”

Although this is his first year as a student at the Ed School, Lopez has been involved with the school in the past, including as an organizer, MC, and DJ at the Alumni of Color Conference, thanks to Lecturer Christina Villarreal, Ed.M.’05, who later convinced him that getting into Harvard was a possibility. He also attended the Hip Hop Experience Lab conference run by Lecturer Aysha Upchurch, Ed.M.’15.

Previously, Lopez was a high school social studies teacher in Connecticut and created a hip hop class and afterschool program in the Bronx. He worked in the Hartford public schools as a climate, culture, and equity strategist, and was an adjunct professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. One day, he’d like to reach even higher and become the secretary of education for the United States.

“Policy is created by people and it’s important to have people in positions of leadership that understand the experiences of the students and educators they serve,” he says. “An important factor of that being a classroom teacher. When you have taught in the classroom you understand the human-centered perspective that is needed in education that goes beyond any policy. Of the last 11 U.S. secretaries of education, only three have been classroom teachers. Secretary Cardona makes the fourth. I want to build upon the human-centered approach he has brought to the role.”

Find your joy and watch their music video: projecthappyvism.com

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Home / Blog

3 Solutions to Challenges in Higher Education

August 16, 2017 

A career in higher education can be an enriching work experience, not only from a professional development perspective, but a sense of belonging as well. When everyone under the academic umbrella – administrators, faculty and students – is working toward the common goal of success, the fruits of labor-intensive efforts can be realized and shared.

At the same time, though, as administrators can attest, higher education can also have its challenges.

The following are some of the biggest demands in the higher education sphere and what leadership can do to accomplish them.

Challenge No. 1: Payments associated with college attendance

As seniors graduate from high school, the odds of their success in the working environment are significantly higher by earning a college degree in the discipline of their choosing. But not everyone has the financial means to get their college careers started, and as a result, enrollment has fallen in recent years. According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 19 million individuals were enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program in 2015, down from 20.3 million in 2010.

Student loan balances are exceeding $1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. The financial toll is difficult for families as well, specifically for parents. According to The Institute for College Access & Success, parents who earn $30,000 or less per year have to spend more than 75 percent of their earnings to finance their children going to a four-year university. Indeed, student debt is at record highs, with student loan balances exceeding $1 trillion , according to the Federal Reserve.

This issue is not lost on college admissions directors. In fact, more than 87 percent of private institutions believe that they are losing potential applicants due to parents’ and students’ concerns about how much money they’ll owe by attending a college or university, according to a survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed.

Potential Solution: Get involved in advocacy for new solutions for student debt.

If there were an immediate answer to student debt, it would have been implemented by now. But one of the ways it may be resolved is by looking to other countries to see how they’re addressing this issue. For instance, as noted by The New York Times , university students in Australia are borrowing right around the same amount as American undergraduates, but the repayment system is different because the amount they owe at any given time is determined by how much they’re earning. For example, when the newly graduated are just starting out in the workforce, they’re absolved from paying anything until they start earning approximately $40,000 in annual salary. Once their pay exceeds this amount is when payments are due, but only up to 4 percent of their regular income until the balance is paid off in full.

“The idea is that no one facing economic hardship should have to choose between paying student debt and paying for basic necessities,” wrote Susan Dynarski, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. “When earnings drop, loan payments drop immediately, allowing borrowers to devote their reduced budgets to essential needs.

Higher education leaders may want to consider speaking or contacting their local and state legislators to talk to them about what public policy efforts are underway that address student debt. There could be strength in numbers.

Challenge No. 2: Low graduation rates

While a majority of public university graduates believe their degree was ultimately worth the price of admission , according to polling from Gallup, many students fail to cross the finish line. Based on survey data from the Pew Research Center, less than half of 25- to 34-year-olds – 47 percent – had a two-year degree in 2015, slightly above the 42 percent worldwide average. In terms of higher education attainment, America trails Korea, Japan, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, among others. This is well short of the goal established by the Department of Education for 60 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds to earn an associate degree by 2020.

Unsurprisingly, more advanced degrees are even less common. As of 2015, only 11 percent of 25- to 64-year-olds in the U.S. had a master’s degree and just 2 percent had a doctorate, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Slovenia and Italy are among the countries where citizens are more likely to have a graduate-level degree or equivalent.

Potential Solution: Implement support-based programs

Going to college is supposed to challenge one’s thinking and requires dedication and work to accomplish assignments and successfully pass exams. However, not to the point in which students decide that graduating isn’t worth the effort. To solve this issue, several universities are implementing programs designed to provide increased support for students. For example, a few years ago, the City University of New York system put in place something called the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). As noted by The New York Times , ASAP provides students with various support systems and financial resources aimed at helping undergraduates succeed in their educational endeavors. Since 2007, when the ASAP initiative first launched, graduation rates have improved dramatically. In fact, students who utilized the ASAP program were two times more likely to have graduated than those who did not.

Administrators can draw from these kinds of programs to see how they may be applicable to graduate-level curricula and overcoming the various stresses that students face on their road to commencement.

Challenge No. 3: The skills gap

Recent college graduates have reason to celebrate, as the vast majority of employers are seeking to hire them. In fact, roughly three-quarters of business owners say they plan to put graduates to work this year , according to a poll conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder. That’s up from 67 percent last year alone.

Yet despite having the necessary qualifications, employers are struggling to find the right fit for their open positions. Almost 60 percent of U.S. employers say some of their hiring searches take 12 weeks or longer to complete, a separate survey from CareerBuilder found. This is costing businesses nearly $1 million in estimated lost work productivity.

“The gap between the number of jobs posted each month and the number of people hired is growing larger as employers struggle to find candidates to fill positions at all levels within their organizations,” said Matt Ferguson, CareerBuilder CEO. “There’s a significant supply and demand imbalance in the marketplace, and it’s becoming nearly a million-dollar problem for companies.”

This is an issue higher education leaders can work on by learning how to better bridge the gap, benefiting not only students but potential employers as well.

Potential Solution: Go to the data

What are universities doing to bridge the skills gap? Many are turning to the numbers, accessing data on what businesses are looking for in new hires. For instance, some administrators and faculty are coordinating course material so that it aligns with the skills that companies hope to find in job applicants, The Wall Street Journal reported . This has involved compiling labor market data, population forecasts and information on where businesses are hiring so that the appropriate modifications can be implemented. University systems have also put together specific classes that help students learn about various skill-sets that are in demand.

By focusing on these strategies and other proactive measures, today’s challenges in higher education may be tomorrow’s leadership triumphs. Contact Maryville University today to learn more about the online Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership program and how you could join the community of problem-solvers addressing issues such as these.

Recommended Reading

Higher Education Leadership: The Prerequisites to Change

Five Challenges of Today’s Provost

The Institute for College Access & Success

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System – How Much Student Debt is Out There?

Career Builder – 74 Percent of Employers Say They Plan to Hire Recent College Graduates This Year, According to Annual CareerBuilder Survey

Career Builder – The Skills Gap is Costing Companies Nearly $1 Million Annually, According to New CareerBuilder Survey

Gallup – College Admissions Directors: Debt Concerns Cost Applicants

The New York Times – America Can Fix Its Student Loan Crisis. Just Ask Australia

Pew Research Center – U.S. still has a ways to go in meeting Obama’s goal of producing more college grads

The Wall Street Journal – Colleges Drill Down on Job-Listing Terms

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11.4 Issues and Problems in Higher Education

Learning objectives.

• Explain why certain college students flounder.
• Describe what is meant by legacy admissions and summarize the criticism of this policy.
• List any two factors that affect college and university graduation rates.
• Describe the extent of physical and sexual violence on the nation’s campuses.

The issues and problems discussed so far in this chapter concern elementary and secondary schools in view of their critical importance for tens of millions of children and for the nation’s social and economic well-being. However, higher education has its own issues and problems. Once again, we do not have space to discuss all these matters, but we will examine some of the most interesting and important. (Recall that Chapter 7 “Alcohol and Other Drugs” discussed alcohol abuse on campus, a very significant higher education problem.)

Higher education can cost students and their parents tens of thousands of dollars per year. This expense prevents many students from going to college and puts many students and parents into considerable debt.

GotCredit – Student Loans – CC BY 2.0.

Perhaps the most important issue is that higher education, at least at four-year institutions, is quite expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars per year. This figure varies by the type of college or university, as private institutions cost much more than public institutions (for in-state students). According to the College Board (2012), only 44 percent of all students attend a four-year institution whose annual tuition and fees amount to less than $9,000. That means that more than half of students attend an institution whose annual tuition and fees are $9,000 or more; this cost averages more than $28,500 at private colleges and universities and exceeds $36,000 at many of these institutions. Tuition and fees average $8,244 at public four-year institutions. Room and board expenses for on-campus students at four-year institutions range from about $8,000 to $14,000, and books and supplies average at least an additional $1,168 for students who do not have the opportunity to read free or low-cost textbooks such as this one.

Combining these figures, students at the least expensive four-year institutions might have bills that total $17,000 to $20,000 annually, and those at the most expensive private institutions have bills that exceed $50,000. Scholarships and other financial aid reduce these costs for many students. Private institutions actually collect only about 67 percent of their published tuition and fees because of the aid they hand out, and public institutions collect only about 82 percent (Stripling, 2010). However, many students who receive aid may still have bills totaling thousands of dollars annually and graduate with huge loans to repay. At two-year public institutions, annual tuition and fees average almost $3,000; these colleges are more affordable but nonetheless can be very costly for their students and their families.

In view of all these figures, it should come as no surprise that many students graduate in debt. Of all the college students who graduated in 2010, roughly two-thirds had to take out loans to pay for their various expenses. These students graduated with an average debt of $25,250 (Pope, 2011), which can certainly take many years to pay off.

Floundering Students

Although college is often said to be the best time of one’s life, many students have difficulties during their college years. These students are called floundering students . Homesickness during the first semester on campus is common, but a number of students have difficulties beyond homesickness. According to psychiatry professor David Leibow, who has studied troubled students, many floundering students mistakenly believe that they are the only ones who are floundering, and many fail to tell their parents or friends about their problems (Golden, 2010). The major cause of floundering, says Leibow, is academic difficulties; other causes include homesickness, relationship problems, family problems including family conflict and the serious illness or death of a family member, personal illness, and financial difficulties.

An estimated 10 percent of students annually seek psychological counseling on their college campus, primarily for depression, anxiety, and relationship problems (Epstein, 2010). About one-third of college students overall have sought counseling by the time they graduate or leave school for other reasons, and 7 percent say they have considered suicide before or after entering college (Sieben, 2011). Many students who seek counseling are given medications to treat their symptoms. Leibow says these medications are often helpful but worries that they are overprescribed. Three reasons underlie his concern. First, although the students given these medications may have problems, often the problems are a normal part of growing into adulthood and not serious enough to justify medication. Second, some of these medications can have serious side effects. Third, students who take medications may be less motivated to address the underlying reasons for their problems.

Social Class and Race in Admissions

We saw earlier in this chapter that African American, Latino, and low-income students are less likely to attend college. And when low-income students do attend college, they are much more likely to attend lower-ranking institutions than very selective campuses. At the very top colleges and universities, 74 percent of new students come from the wealthiest one-fourth of US households, and only 3 percent come from the poorest one-fourth of households (Krugman, 2012).

These facts raise important questions about the lack of diversity in college admissions and campus life. Chapter 3 “Racial and Ethnic Inequality” discussed the debate over racially based affirmative action in higher education. Reflecting this debate, some states have passed laws prohibiting the use of race and ethnicity in admissions to public colleges and universities. One such state was California, where voters approved this type of prohibition in 1996. During the first year after this ban took effect, the number of African American and Latino students admitted to the University of California system dropped by about 25 percent and by 50 percent at the system’s two most selective campuses in Berkeley and Los Angeles (UCLA). According to the head of the University of California system, “If we had affirmative action as one of our tools, we’d do somewhat better for Hispanics, and we’d probably do significantly better for African-Americans” (Pérez-Peña, 2012).

Although colleges and universities are making a greater effort to attract and retain low-income students and students of color, these students remain greatly underrepresented at institutions of higher education.

Bart Everson – Students – CC BY 2.0.

In three states with bans on affirmative action, California, Florida, and Texas, public universities automatically admit the top students in every high school. Because many of their high schools are predominantly African American or Latino, this strategy has helped counter their bans on affirmative action. However, because many more high schools in these states are mostly Latino rather than African American, the strategy has proven more beneficial for Latino admissions than for African American admissions (Pérez-Peña, 2012).

Partly because affirmative action is so controversial, attention has begun to focus on the low numbers of low-income students at many colleges and universities, and especially at the more selective institutions as ranked by US News & World Report and other sources. Many education scholars and policymakers feel that increasing the number of low-income students would not only help these students but also increase campus diversity along the lines of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity (since students of color are more likely to be from low-income backgrounds). Efforts to increase the number of low-income students, these experts add, would avoid the controversy that has surrounded affirmative action.

In response to this new attention to social class, colleges and universities have begun to increase their efforts to attract and retain low-income students, which a recent news report called “one of the most underrepresented minority groups at many four-year colleges” (Schmidt, 2010). The dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard University summarized these efforts as follows: “I honestly cannot think of any admissions person I know who is not looking—as sort of a major criteria [ sic ] of how well their year went—at how well they did in attracting people of different economic backgrounds” (Schmidt, 2010).

As part of their strategy to attract and retain low-income students, Harvard and other selective institutions are now providing financial aid to cover all or most of the students’ expenses. Despite these efforts, however, the US higher education system has become more stratified by social class in recent decades: The richest students now occupy a greater percentage of the enrollment at the most selective institutions than in the past, while the poorest students occupy a greater percentage of the enrollment at the least selective four-year institutions and at community colleges (Schmidt, 2010).

Legacy Admissions

At highly selective colleges and universities, the policy of legacy admissions makes it easier for certain wealthy students to gain admission. Under this policy, students who are daughters or sons (or other relatives) of graduates of the institution are given preference in admissions. Because their parents are very likely to be wealthy, a legacy admissions policy in effect amounts to what critics call “affirmative action for the rich” (Kahlenberg, 2010). According to recent research, being a child of an alumna or alumnus of one of these institutions increases one’s chances of admission by forty-five percentage points (Kahlenberg, 2011). Thus if a nonlegacy applicant with certain qualifications would ordinarily have a 40 percent chance of being admitted, a legacy applicant with the same qualifications would have an 85 percent chance of being admitted. Critics say legacy admissions give an unfair advantage to wealthy students and use up valuable spots that should go to more qualified students from more varied socioeconomic backgrounds. As one critic puts it, “It’s fundamentally unfair because it’s a preference that advantages the already advantaged. It has nothing to do with the individual merit of the applicant” (Lewin, 2010, p. A12).

Graduation Rates

For the sake of students and of their colleges and universities, it is important that as many students as possible go on to earn their diplomas. However, only 57 percent of students at four-year institutions graduate within six years. This figure varies by type of institution. At the highly selective private institutions, 80–90 percent or more of students typically graduate within six years, while at many public institutions, the graduate rate is about 50 percent. Academic and financial difficulties and other problems explain why so many students fail to graduate (Gonzalez, 2010).

The 57 percent overall rate masks a racial/ethnic difference in graduation rates: While 60 percent of white students graduate within six years, only 49 percent of Latino students and 40 percent of African American students graduate. At some institutions, the graduation rates of Latino and African American students match those of whites, thanks in large part to exceptional efforts by these institutions to help students of color. As one expert on this issue explains, “What colleges do for students of color powerfully impacts the futures of these young people and that of our nation” (Gonzalez, 2010). Another expert placed this issue into a larger context: “For both moral and economic reasons, colleges need to ensure that their institutions work better for all the students they serve” (Stephens, 2010).

In this regard, it is important to note that the graduation rate of low-income students from four-year institutions is much lower than the graduation rate of wealthier students (Luhby, 2011). In fact, students with high test scores and low-income parents are less likely to graduate than students with low test scores and high-income parents (Krugman, 2012).

Low-income students drop out at higher rates because of academic and financial difficulties and family problems. Their academic and financial difficulties are intertwined. Low-income students often have to work many hours per week during the academic year to be able to pay their bills. Because their work schedules reduce the time they have for studying, their grades may suffer. This general problem has been made worse by cutbacks in federal grants to low-income students that began during the 1980s. These cutbacks forced low-income students to rely increasingly on loans, which have to be repaid. This fact leads some to work more hours during the academic year to limit the loans they must take out, and their increased work schedule again may affect their grades.

Low-income students face additional difficulties beyond the financial (Berg, 2010). Their writing and comprehension skills upon entering college are often weaker than those of wealthier students. If they are first-generation college students (meaning that neither parent went to college), they often have problems adjusting to campus life and living amid students from much more advantaged backgrounds.

Campus Violence

Earlier we discussed violence in the elementary and secondary schools. Violence can also happen on college and university campuses, although shootings are very rare. However, three recent examples illustrate that students and faculty are not immune from gun violence. In April 2012, a former student lined up and then shot and killed seven people and wounded three others at Oikos University in Oakland, California. In February 2010, Amy Bishop, a biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who had recently been denied tenure, allegedly shot and killed three faculty at a department meeting and wounded three others. Almost three years earlier, a student at Virginia Tech went on a shooting rampage and killed thirty-two students and faculty before killing himself.

Other types of violence are more common on the nation’s campuses. Chapter 4 “Gender Inequality” noted that an estimated 20–30 percent of women students have been raped or sexually assaulted (including attempts), usually by a male student who was an acquaintance, friend, or intimate partner. Beyond rape and sexual assault, students are also sometimes assaulted or robbed. Federal victimization data show that about 6 percent of college students are victims of at least one act of all these types of violence annually (Baum & Klaus, 2005). Because there are about 20 million students in college, this 6 percent figure translates to about 1.2 million annual violent victimizations at US colleges and universities. It is important to note that the 6 percent rate masks a significant gender difference: 8 percent of male students experience at least one act of violence annually, compared to about 4 percent of female students. Male students are thus twice as likely as female students to be victimized by violence. For just rape and sexual assault, though, female students are much more likely than male students to be victimized.

Many colleges and universities have been accused of not taking rape and sexual assault seriously in what one news report called a “struggle for justice” for campus rape victims (Lipka, 2011; Shapiro, 2010). This criticism takes two forms. First, campuses ignore many reports of rape and sexual assault altogether. Second, they hand out weak or no discipline in cases when they do heed reports. One student’s account of her university’s lack of follow-up to her alleged rape illustrates this criticism. “It was as if they were going above and beyond to ensure nothing would be done in my case,” the woman later recalled. “I felt extremely disappointed to know that the institution in charge of ensuring my safety did not recognize the massive distress the sexual assault caused me. Furthermore, I was disappointed that when I sought justice through their system, I was treated with hostility and disrespect. I was clearly not believed, and was often blamed for what had happened” (Webley, 2011).

Key Takeaways

• The cost of higher education and other problems make it difficult for low-income students and students of color to enter college and to stay in college once admitted.
• Many college students have academic and personal problems that lead them to flounder and to seek psychological counseling.
• Many campuses continue to lack racial and social class diversity, and affirmative action remains very controversial.
• Physical and sexual violence is a general problem on the nation’s campuses. At least one-fifth of college women are raped or sexually assaulted.

For Your Review

• If you were the director of admissions at a university, what steps would you take to increase the number of applications from low-income students?
• Do you think alcohol use is to blame for most campus violence, or are there other important factors at work? Explain your answer.

Baum, K., & Klaus, P. (2005). Violent victimization of college students, 1995–2002 . Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Berg, G. A. (2010). Low-income students and the perpetuation of inequality: Higher education in America . Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

College Board, The. (2012). What it costs to go to college. Retrieved from http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html .

Epstein, J. (2010, May 4). Stability in student mental health. Inside Higher Ed . Retrived from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/2005/2004/counseling .

Golden, S. (2010, September 15). When college is not the best time. Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/2009/2015/leibow .

Gonzalez, J. (2010, August 9). Reports highlight disparities in graduation rates among white and minority students. The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Reports-Highlight-Disparities/123857 .

Kahlenberg, R. (2011, January 6). Do legacy preferences count more than race? The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/do-legacy-preferences-count-more-than-race/28294 .

Kahlenberg, R. D. (Ed.). (2010). Affirmative action for the rich: Legacy preferences in college admissions . New York, NY: Century Foundation.

Krugman, P. (2012, January 9). America’s unlevel field. New York Times , p. A19.

Lewin, T. (2010, January 9). Study finds family connections give big advantage in college admissions. New York Times , p. A12.

Lipka, S. (2011, March 20). Colleges face conflicting pressures in dealing with cases of sexual assault. The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Face-Conflicting/126818/ .

Luhby, T. (2011, November 28). College graduation rates: Income really matters. CNN Money . Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/index.htm .

Pérez-Peña, R. (2012, April 2). To enroll more minority students, colleges work around the courts. New York Times , p. A9.

Pope, J. (2011, November 3). Average student loan debt: $25,250. The Huffington Post . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/2011/2003/average-student-debt-2525_n_1073335.html .

Schmidt, P. (2010, September 19). In push for diversity, colleges pay attention to socioeconomic class. The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Socioeconomic-Class-Gains/124446/?key=TjgnJ124441E124444aHZGM124443hiaT124448TZzgHPSRqZR124448jY124443A YPn124440pbl124449WFQ%124443D%124443D .

Shapiro, J. (2010, February 24). Campus rape victims: A struggle for justice. National Public Radio . Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124001493 .

Sieben, L. (2011, March 14). Nearly a third of college students have had mental-health counseling, study finds. The Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Nearly-a-Third-of-College/126726 .

Stephens, L. (2010). Reports reveal colleges with the biggest, smallest gaps in minority graduation rates in the US . Washington, DC: The Education Trust.

Stripling, J. (2010, September 15). Refining aid choices. Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/2009/2015/discounting .

Webley, K. (2011, April 18). It’s not just Yale: Are colleges doing enough to combat sexual violence? Time . Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2065849-2065841,2065800.html .

Social Problems Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The state of higher education: Challenges and opportunities in 2023

Perspectives in higher education.

In an increasingly competitive and complex environment, management and trustees of higher education institutions are facing a growing number of issues that require attention. As colleges and universities emerge from their intense focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges are taking its place. These challenges include grappling with the state of the economy and the related fiscal impact on the institution, focusing on admissions policies and procedures in response to declining college enrollment, and devising appropriate strategies around the safety and security of the campus community.

In this edition of Perspectives in Higher Education, we highlight these pressing challenges, as well as related opportunities for institutions. Other key areas include environmental, social and governance considerations, the state of university compliance programs, and ways to strengthen the path between higher education and postgraduate careers. We also provide our annual update on activities in Washington and how they are affecting higher education. Finally, we offer commentary on how institutions can enhance the educational experience of international students.

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The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

How one small college exemplifies higher education’s problems and potential solutions

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The Emmanuel College story

BOSTON — Maria Amodeo cringed when she ran into her biology professor on the quad at Emmanuel College, where patches of snow covered the hard ground on a bright but cold winter day.

“Did you get my email?” she asked. “I think you’re going to kill me.”

Amodeo, a 21-year-old senior biology major with a concentration in health science and a minor in chemistry, had accepted a job as a research technician at one of the world’s preeminent cancer centers, a few blocks away, instead of taking an offer from the top-rated hospital at which the professor had a long affiliation.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he responded, laughing and congratulating her.

The exchange spoke to the personal attention enjoyed by students on small campuses like this one, where bells still ring the hour. Enrollment is less than 2,000, and there’s a 13:1 ratio of students to faculty. A higher-than-average proportion of students graduate on time.

But the Catholic, liberal arts-focused, onetime all-women college that just celebrated its 100th anniversary also exemplifies the kind of institution increasingly threatened by financial, demographic, competitive and other pressures — and what such schools are doing to remain in business.

“I think for some institutions, they’re hoping to wait out the shakeout and see some of their competitors close their doors. But that is not a strategy that works in a market that’s declining as fast as ours is.” Todd Leach, chancellor emeritus, University System of New Hampshire

Other institutions “are hoping to wait out the shakeout and see some of their competitors close their doors,” said Todd Leach, former chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire and former chair of the New England Board of Higher Education. “But that is not a strategy that works in a market that’s declining as fast as ours is. You have to really make serious structural changes.”

Emmanuel has experience with making those kinds of changes. The college, whose name in Hebrew means “God with us,” has stared down mortality before under the leadership of a long-serving president and treasurer, both of them nuns, who have come up with the sorts of survival strategies that many schools are scrambling to figure out.  

Related: How higher education’s own choices left it vulnerable to the pandemic crisis

“I believe that we have the spirit and the wherewithal to move forward if we keep listening carefully and adapting to what we’re hearing,” said Sister Janet Eisner, who has been president since 1979 and who, at a sprightly 80, is the fifth-longest-serving college president, and longest-serving woman, still in office.  

Eisner, who graduated from Emmanuel herself in 1963, said she meets with her top managers every week “to make sure that we are in sync watching this. You know, what’s the trend?”

Lately many trends affecting small colleges like this one have been particularly worrying.  

Emmanuel’s undergraduate enrollment fell 14 percent last fall compared to the fall of 2019, to 1,775 students, after the college decided to go virtual because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It reopened for in-person classes this semester, but fewer than half of its students are back on campus.  

Nationwide, the number of freshmen fell by an unprecedented 13.1 percent in the fall, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, and undergraduate enrollment overall was down by more than 560,000 students.

Empty dorms and dining halls cost Emmanuel $12 million in forgone revenue last semester alone, on top of $4.5 million in refunds from the previous spring, according to financial information it provided, though it recouped some of those losses by cutting costs. In all, revenue for Emmanuel will have dropped from $107 million in the year ending last June to $93 million this year, the college projects.

Nationwide, Covid-19 could cost higher education more than $180 billion , according to research conducted by the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Even without Covid, Emmanuel is facing a significant challenge. It draws nearly 90 percent of its enrollment from Massachusetts and the rest of New England , a region in which the number of high school students has been falling .

Nationwide, the number of freshmen entering colleges fell by an unprecedented 13.1 percent in the fall. Overall, Covid-19 could cost higher education more than $180 billion.

Nationwide, the number of college-age Americans will begin declining after 2025 , the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects, further reducing the supply of prospective customers for which admissions offices everywhere will be competing.

The Moody’s bond-rating agency lowered Emmanuel’s credit outlook in January from stable to negative, citing $185 million of outstanding debt, much of it borrowed to build an 18-story apartment-style residence hall that was open for a little more than a year and a half before the Covid shutdowns hit. Moody’s also cited the “highly competitive market” for students, made worse during the economic downturn the pandemic triggered, which has constrained some families’ ability to pay.

How competitive is the market? Amodeo remembered being surprised when she was a high school senior to get personal calls from colleges to which she’d applied, and “constant emails. A lot of emails.”

“It is a little bit weird of a position to be in,” she said of the intensive outreach. “That was not something that I expected.”

Related: Analysis: Hundreds of colleges and universities show financial warning signs

Recruiting from this shrinking pool of students requires more than individual appeals, though. It takes ever-growing piles of financial aid.

Emmanuel is one of a growing number of four-year institutions at which no freshmen pay the full price , federal figures show. The college will essentially be discounting tuition for the students who start in the fall by 61 percent, said Sister Anne Mary Donovan, chief financial officer and treasurer and, like Eisner, a member of the order of Notre Dame de Namur. She called that percentage “just God-awful.” Full tuition, room and board this year is $61,813 .

Private universities and colleges nationwide gave back an average of nearly 53 percent of their tuition revenue in the form of discounts and financial aid to full-time freshmen, according to the most recent available figures from the National Association of College and University Business Officers, which date from before the pandemic.

“The students are incredibly savvy about bringing us an offer they got from some competing college. And, you know, ‘Can you match this?’ ” Donovan said. She said the practice is not sustainable. “Oh, no. God, no. It certainly is not.”

Despite such generosity, early data show that applications to small and less-selective colleges are sluggish for the upcoming fall. Although the Common App, a shared application accepted by more than 900 colleges and universities, reports a jump in the total number of applications submitted this year, the number declined at the smallest schools and grew more slowly at the least selective ones.  

“The students are incredibly savvy about bringing us an offer they got from some competing college. And, you know, ‘Can you match this?’ ” Sister Anne Mary Donovan, chief financial officer and treasurer, Emmanuel College

By this measure, Emmanuel appears to be doing comparatively well; it says its applications for the fall rose 11 percent. The college hugely benefits from the location of its campus, which straddles Boston’s resurgent Fenway neighborhood and Longwood Medical and Academic Area, near some of the world’s best hospitals and research centers. There’s hardly any sign of the college itself in its promotional video, which instead follows a group of happy students as they make their way around the famous landmarks nearby. In the student center there’s a bank of tourist brochures like the kind usually found in hotel lobbies.

That 17-acre campus has repeatedly proved Emmanuel’s salvation. That’s because it’s some of the most valuable real estate in New England, worth $276 million , according to the most recent available financial audit.

Related: While many colleges are making big cuts, a few opt for permanent transformation

In 1974, with enrollment so low Donovan said the college couldn’t meet its payroll, Emmanuel sold off a parcel to a neighboring hospital. Men-only universities, including several that were Catholic, had gone coed, and all-women colleges like Emmanuel had seen their applications plummet.

“By the early ’90s, you could not convince a 16-year-old or a 17-year-old young woman that it was really great to go to a single-sex college,” Eisner said.

To lower costs, Eisner gathered her fellow presidents from four other Fenway-area universities and colleges in 1996 and proposed that they pool their programs and share course offerings, research labs, dining halls, fitness facilities, libraries, emergency management and other things.

“It took a little while,” said Eisner, sitting at the same conference table where the agreement was negotiated, in a room with watercolors of Boston scenes hanging on the walls. But “we benefitted because we needed each other, and then we got stronger.”

The consortium that became known as the Colleges of the Fenway — a sixth school joined in 1999 — would eventually be copied by other clusters of colleges around the country.

It didn’t solve Emmanuel’s enrollment problems, though.

By 2000, the number of students had fallen to about 600 , and the college took another big step: It decided to enroll men.

Doing that required leveraging another corner of the favorably situated campus, which Emmanuel leased to the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. for 75 years for $50 million, which paid for new dorms to house the male students who began to show up in 2001.

“We adapt. We look at what’s going on in our environment. We reflect on it. And we have adapted, over and over.” Sister Janet Eisner, president, Emmanuel College

Merck’s 12-story glass-walled research lab now towers over the mostly low-rise, predominantly brick campus; students can intern there, as Amodeo did. The college would later lease another building to a nearby hospital, which is also using it as research space.

Long known for training teachers, Emmanuel started to expand its science and health programs to connect its students with the cutting-edge research and medical establishments in the neighborhood. It added neuroscience and biostatistics, for example. It monitored what high school students said they wanted to study, and what national employment reports showed were the jobs in most demand. Emmanuel’s top undergraduate majors are now in science and health, edging out the humanities and social sciences.

The college built a $50 million science center, which it finished even after the last recession threatened to interrupt the project. In the fall it began an undergraduate nursing program, after building pricey state-of-the-art simulators and labs with animated “patients” that can move, talk and exhibit symptoms. It launched new programs in high-demand fields including marketing, criminology and criminal justice, migration studies and global and public health.

Related: The pandemic is speeding up the mass disappearance of men from college

Emmanuel bought back the piece of its campus it had sold off in 1974 to build a new high-rise dorm, but hedged its bets by leasing 250 of the beds to another Colleges of the Fenway member school for 12 years.

“We adapt,” said Eisner. “We look at what’s going on in our environment. We reflect on it. And we have adapted, over and over.”

The college’s small size helps it propel nearly 60 percent of its students to graduate within four years, higher than the national average of 45 percent .

Emmanuel also recognized another change among students and their parents, who once took on faith that a college education would pay off but now demand to know exactly what they’re getting for their money.

“It’s forced us to be much more clear on who we are and who our students are,” and show them what jobs they can get with a degree, said Josef Kurtz, chief academic officer — “being able to communicate those outcomes back to a freshman [and] saying, ‘Hey, listen, here’s someone who graduated just two years ago. Look at what they’re doing. You can do that, too.’ We want them to see that what they’re learning in the classroom actually will have value when they graduate.”

Many challenges persist. Men still make up less than a quarter of enrollment. Emmanuel has managed to enroll only a tiny number of graduate students, and almost none from abroad; both are major cash cows for other higher education institutions. Almost all of its undergraduates come straight from the dwindling ranks of high school graduates, at a time when the growth market is in retraining older-than-traditional-age students. And one of the other Colleges of the Fenway, financially troubled Wheelock College, was taken over by Boston University, which laid off most of its faculty and staff.

The collapse of neighboring Wheelock “sent a little shockwave” through students at Emmanuel, said Matt King, a senior double-majoring in math and economics. “There was a little bit of talk among myself and friends about like, ‘Oh, what if BU bought us out? What would that look like for us?’ ”

Many small colleges report that prospective applicants are asking about their solvency. More than 500 schools showed signs of financial problems even before the pandemic, according to the Financial Fitness Tracker produced by The Hechinger Report using federal data. More than 50 have closed or merged in the last five years. The state Department of Higher Education warned in March that another Massachusetts small college, Becker, may not have enough cash to stay open.

But Emmanuel “will survive,” said Donovan. “And I would not have said that to you in the early ’90s. I mean, I felt terrible [back then] asking people for money, given the shape that I knew we were in financially.”

There’s a simple reason Emmanuel’s credit rating fell this year, she said: “because the higher ed industry is just in a mess.” Donovan said the downgrade won’t have much of an impact, since she has no additional plans to borrow.

Infusions of cash from those land deals and other tactical repositioning has left the college in a good place at a time when many of its counterparts are wobbling, she said — though Donovan acknowledged the magnitude of what they’re up against.

“Sometimes the way we manage, I think it’s only because the Holy Spirit is guiding us.”

This story about a small college was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, in collaboration with GBH Boston. Additional reporting by Kirk Carapezza. Sign up for our higher education newsletter .

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Challenges to Higher Education’s Most Essential Purposes

“[Higher education’s most essential purposes] include educating students broadly so that they may lead productive lives in a civilized society; serving as engines of opportunity and social mobility; creating new knowledge of every kind, including work that either has no immediate market value or may even threaten some commercial end; encouraging and protecting the thoughtful critic and the dissenting voice; and defending cultural, moral, and intellectual values that no one can “price” very well.”

–William G. Bowen, Romanes Lecture, October 17, 2000

In his 2000 Romanes Lecture, entitled “At a Slight Angle to the Universe, the University in a Digitized, Commercialized Age,” William Bowen anticipated many of the challenges higher education faces today. His incisive summary of the most important purposes of higher education offers a useful framework for assessing how higher education is fulfilling its uniquely important role supporting a vibrant democratic society. Those responsible for higher education’s well-being, including presidents, administrators, trustees, faculty, and government policy makers, would do well to hold close these important values as they carry out their complementary roles leading the sector.

As we consider the challenges facing them in that endeavor, it is useful to remember that higher education is not a monolith. It is made up of many independent and diverse institutional types all operating to support and sustain internal organizational self-interest even as they serve broader societal objectives. Higher education also serves a wide array of students with differing needs, resources and capacities. Problems and opportunities appear quite different from these various perspectives, and actions and interventions can yield different outcomes across different groups of institutions or across different types of students or faculty. Nevertheless, there are certain core principles that all of these institutions share, and there are certain aspects of their experience that are common.

One undeniable common factor is the changing information and media environment. Bowen anticipated this growing specter, and he highlighted it in his consideration of digitization and its impact on the sector. But even he likely did not foresee the impact and nature of the next generation of technological innovations lining up to dwarf the impacts of the past. This next powerful wave of change emanates from the trillions of sensors capturing data of every imaginable kind, the rapidly accelerating and exponential increases in computing power to process those data, and the potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning to operate in ways that fundamentally change many of the ways we work, learn, and interact; in short, the way we live our lives.

The impact of this new wave of forces will be greater than the Industrial Revolution in the way it will transform our world. Paraphrasing from Joseph Aoun in his book about artificial intelligence: in the Industrial Revolution man learned to use machines as a substitute for physical labor, in this era we are learning to use machines as a substitute for intellectual labor. [1] Just as the shift to machines for physical labor transformed many aspects of society, so too will the continuing transition to the use of machines to support more fully our intellectual work.

The ultimate impact of the migration to artificial and machine-assisted intelligence is in many ways unforeseeable, but it is certain to be fundamental. The revolution to come will play out over decades, but because of the accelerating nature of technology and the rapid spread of information in today’s world, we must begin now to prepare for its impact and indeed to help shape it to positive ends for society.

With this broad context, we outline a set of challenges and opportunities facing higher education, using the five purposes highlighted in Bowen’s quote, along with reflections on the broader issues of financial, and in some cases perhaps even existential, threats to the future sustainability of colleges and universities.

Educating Students to Lead Productive Lives

The demand for and value of post-secondary education is greater than ever, and will continue to increase as machines take on more physical and basic intellectual tasks. The challenges to meeting those needs fall into a number of categories:

• Unsustainable cost of traditional methods of instruction . Methods of instruction that rely on small classes with an instructor are effective, but the effects of the notorious Baumol/Bowen cost disease have made that methodology too expensive for all but the wealthiest institutions and is therefore not scale-able. How are colleges and universities going to find ways to “bend the cost curve” and increase the productivity of the education process?
• A changing population . Not only do higher education institutions need to be able to effectively educate more students of color, more students of modest financial means, and first-generation students in response to changing demographics, they also need to be able to educate students at different stages of their careers. This presents a variety of challenges at every stage of the education process, from admission through awarding a degree and on to meeting the needs of those who have to return periodically for additional education throughout the course of a career.
• Educational technologies . Developments in technology point to the possibility of new forms of learning relying on machines as “tutors” that use data tracking student progress to recursively improve the quality of the knowledge and assistance provided to students. There is evidence that new teaching techniques facilitated by these technologies, such as flipped classrooms and engaged learning, offer promise, but demand that the roles of students and faculty in the learning process change in fundamental ways. Such change is very difficult to enable and support.
• Balancing the curriculum . Institutions need to respond to demand for new skills, such as computer programming or data science, even as they maintain and make the case for important education in humanistic fields that are essential to dealing with ethical and values- based questions being raised by societal changes.
• Unbundling and rebundling . A number of information-based industries have been threatened and altered because new entrants provide a specialized service that disaggregates a bundled offering. There are many components to the higher education bundle, and of course what makes up the bundle varies by type and even individual institutions, but three broad categories might be worth considering as we contemplate future pressures on the sector: 1) education, and by that we specifically refer to the change in understanding and knowledge acquired over a period of time; 2) credentialing, and by that we mean the validation that a person has a particular skill or competence; and 3) selection, which refers to the process by which higher education institutions identify and assemble a group of talented people, an outcome that has proven to be very valuable to those who want to find talent, either for jobs or for further education. Higher education provides a talent matching role that makes the process of finding excellent people more efficient.
• The Arms Race. There is an additional component that applies primarily to residential colleges, and drives up costs for institutions competing to attract students, and that is the need to provide a comfortable, safe, and sometimes almost luxurious environment for young men and women to transition to adulthood. Some refer to this as a student “arms race,” as schools compete on quality of life related issues like beautiful technology-enabled dorms and campuses, great food, athletics facilities, etc.

Conducting Research and Creating New Knowledge

The development of networked technologies has had a dramatic impact on scholarly communications and the research process. The first phase of that change–digitized information distributed via the network–has led to much wider dissemination of scholarly content around the world. The second phase of that evolution, enabled by the fact that the marginal cost of delivering content is nearly zero, has been downward pressure on the willingness to pay for content, leading to the emergence of the open access movement. There is increasing expectation that content should be delivered without charge to support its widest possible access and dissemination.

In response to these changes, larger scale publishers and aggregators of scholarly content have been shifting their business models to rely less on subscriptions to content and more on fees for services. They are moving “upstream” in the research process and assembling or building a variety of tools and services focused not only on the publication process, but also on helping scholars compile and manage data, collaborate with other researchers, and manage their work profiles. They are also building tools that help institutions evaluate, showcase and generate financial support for their faculty’s work. Increasingly, the largest scientific publisher, Elsevier, offers a case in point. Elsevier is moving to offer an integrated set of services designed to deepen and broaden the level of engagement between and among Elsevier, scholars and academic institutions. Yet even as Elsevier makes progress executing this strategy, it is not clear that it can transition its business rapidly enough to maintain its profitability as the library market uses its leverage to withdraw from subscriptions, as new platforms and services emerge, and as the value proposition for research and publishing is transformed.

Publishers’ strategies illustrate the opportunities to deliver new tools for supporting the research and publication process, but a more fundamental change to research may be associated with the growing importance of data analytics and machine learning. As highlighted in the introduction, entirely new areas and types of research are being created by the ability to capture, store, and analyze massive amounts of data. Computer science is being integrated into many traditional disciplines to create new interdisciplinary fields of research. Problems that were once intractable can now be pursued using raw computing power aimed at processing enormous amounts of data. Like access to great research libraries in the 20th century or access to the transcribed texts of the monks in the 6th century, access to massive amounts of data is essential to conducting cutting edge research in an increasing number of fields. Challenges facing colleges and universities as they are surrounded by “Big Data” include:

• The largest datasets are not controlled by universities. Unfortunately, the largest datasets are often not available in the public domain or accessible by universities; they are held by corporations like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. It has been said that Google’s effort to re-enter China is driven largely not by a desire for advertising revenue, but by a need to gain access to more data. With the insatiable need for data to feed the machine learning algorithms and to pursue answers to challenging problems in new ways, universities are finding themselves struggling to gain access to the raw materials for creating knowledge.
• Attracting top talent . Even the largest research universities are finding themselves at a disadvantage when trying to recruit top research talent. Professors are leaving the academy for jobs in industry, not only because of the potential to earn more money, but also to have access to the resources and data necessary to work on the most interesting intellectual problems.
• Potential to collaborate . Increasingly colleges and universities are positioning themselves to engage collaboratively not only with other universities, but also with private enterprise in order to get access to more data and compete to be at the cutting edge of research and discovery.

One consequence of these developments is that a smaller number of universities have the scale to compete in this domain, a trend that is increasing the gap between a small number of elite universities at the top, and all other colleges and universities far behind.

Serving as Engines of Opportunity and Social Mobility

If there is a risk of bifurcation in the research enterprise, it is perhaps even more pronounced on the education side of the college/university mission. In the post-WWII era, in large measure due to the GI Bill and support for the returning military, higher education became an engine of opportunity that opened the door to the middle class for millions of Americans. Although the return on investment from a post- secondary degree has continued to be a great value, the cost of higher education, and the tuitions charged for earning a degree, have grown at a rate higher than that of all but the highest family incomes, making it increasingly difficult for people from middle- and lower-income backgrounds to afford a post-secondary education. A series of challenges have emerged to confront higher education as it attempts to maintain its place as a positive defender and facilitator of social and economic opportunity:

• Undermatching . Many students choose not to go to the school that will challenge them more or that is beyond their local geographical region, a decision that often leads them to choose a school with lower levels of degree completion. And for colleges and universities, it is costly to reach students from all backgrounds and they don’t always have an incentive to do so.
• Low levels of public support for institutions that serve the most students. Community colleges and regional public universities, which are the starting point for many of the most economically challenged students, are severely underfunded on a per-student basis, leading to low graduation rates and fewer resources for students trying to complete their educations.
• Changing demographics . Colleges and universities have to educate a more diverse set of students from a wider range of backgrounds.
• Increasing numbers of less-prepared students . More students coming out of high school aspire to attend college but unfortunately a larger share of them are not sufficiently prepared. More students are arriving at college needing more support to complete their educations and earn their degrees. Educating these students is costlier for colleges at a time when tuition needs to be held in check.
• Changing legal and policy environment . Approaches that support diversity and access to higher education for students of all backgrounds are losing government support and are being attacked in the courts.
• Students have lives . The majority of students have other commitments and face pressures outside their academic work; they are not in a position to make education their exclusive, or even a top priority. Colleges must continue to develop different ways to educate students who have to work or raise a family or meet other obligations while pursuing their education.

One dystopian potential outcome would be that, despite the best efforts of many institutions of all kinds, we could see a devolution back to a distinctly two-tiered system like what existed in 19th Century Britain. In this negative projection one can envision a very small number of well-endowed institutions that cater to the wealthy, well-prepared class as well as a small number of carefully picked representatives from various groups. These students would receive a world-class education, while most students would be at risk of receiving a much lower quality education that is overly-reliant on poorly built computerized teaching systems or online learning courseware that does not provide the kind of encouragement and motivation that is required to help students through the many challenges encountered when learning. Following this path could well lead to a self-perpetuating system across generations where a small elite group benefits from a compounding level of social capital, while most students are left out, leading to a widening of social, political, cultural, and financial gulfs.

Protecting and Supporting Diverse Points of View

Higher education institutions hold sacred the ideal that their communities protect everyone’s ability to make their arguments; that the pursuit of knowledge requires a free exchange of knowledge and perspective, and that the use of evidence, scientific inquiry and vigorous debate are essential pillars of a democratic society and social and technological progress. There are a number of factors that are threatening higher education’s ability to continue to serve that role for all perspectives:

• What are facts? The very assumption that there are facts and that truth can be pursued and realized through scientific inquiry is being questioned. Sometimes this skepticism about the concept of “truth” stems from politics or ideology, sometimes it is rooted in beliefs about different forms of knowledge and “ways of knowing.”
• Controversial speakers are unwelcome. Demonstrations and the threat of violence associated with providing a platform for controversial speakers threaten the ability of higher education institutions to serve as the host for important conversations and to serve as defenders of free speech.
• Social media demands a response at a furious rate. The enormous power of social media to stir controversy and to move opinion and emotion operates at a pace that intellectual arguments cannot match. This results in leaders having to react rather than reason when faced with political challenges.
• The academy leans left. Through a process of self-selection over a matter of decades, a super- majority of the professoriate and administration in the academy have political views that are left-of-center. This is helping to create a perception that higher education is not a welcoming environment for all perspectives. As Lawrence Bacow said at his installation address at Harvard University, “more people than we would like to admit believe that universities are not nearly as open to ideas from across the political spectrum as we should be.” [2]
• There is less room for nuance . The increasing stridency of debate and dialogue in the political sphere, driven aggressively by ideology and partisanship, undermines the making of arguments based on careful and nuanced intellectual reasoning.

Higher education needs to combat the perception as well as the reality that it is no longer a place where ideas can be truly and freely shared without fear of repercussions.

Defending Important Values

In addition to nurturing multiple points of view, colleges and universities are long-lived institutions that have stood for timeless values such as the disinterested pursuit of learning, the freedom to conduct research on important questions of every kind, and the importance of enlightened reason. Yet, these institutions are threatened from multiple directions, and many, if not all, of the problems framed here threaten these institutions’ ability to protect these values. For example, the increase in the need to support computer science and data science majors at the same time that the number of humanities majors is falling dramatically is a direct response to “the market” for students and by the needs of students. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it steers these institutions toward the practical and away from the philosophical. It also raises the question of whether higher education institutions are motivated by their values, or if they have become more akin to corporations driven by meeting the needs of consumers and responding to challenges to their financial sustainability rather than by their values and mission. This shift is occurring at a time when a rich understanding of the humanities is arguably more important than ever. Our increasing reliance on machines to support and even replace some of our intellectual work is going to raise ethical and philosophical questions that only an understanding of the humanities will help us to address.

Sources and Sustainability of Financial Support

Over the last 30 years, and at an accelerating rate since the Great Recession, higher education has been receiving a decreasing share of the public purse. James Duderstadt, former president of the University of Michigan, in his 2009 address Dies Ademicus, said:

Actually, this decline in public support was nothing new for my university, located in the Rust Belt close to Detroit and the collapsing American automobile industry. Over the past 30 years we had seen our public support decline from 70% of our operating budget to less than 6% (more specifically, state support of $322 million/year compares to the total University of Michigan budget of $5.5 billion/year). As university president I used to explain that during this period we had evolved from a state-supported to a state-assisted to a state-related to a state-located university. In fact, with Michigan campuses now located in Europe and Asia, we remain only a state-molested institution. [3]

More generally, in academic year 2005-2006, state governments covered 36 percent of public 4-year doctoral institutions’ budgets. By 2010-2011, that was down to 29 percent, and it has continued to fall, to 27 percent in 2015-2016. [4] There are a number of reasons for this diminishing public financial support:

• Other costs, such as for health care and pensions, are crowding out resources that might be available for education.
• There is a general reduction in investment in public programs and institutions as governments have moved to the right of the political spectrum.
• Support for higher education is increasingly becoming a partisan issue. In June 2017, a Pew Research survey showed that 58 percent of Republicans say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country. [5] Similarly, just published Gallup poll found that higher education suffered the greatest drop in confidence among a variety of public institutions between 2015 and 2018, falling from 56 percent to 48 percent. The drop in confidence was largest among Republicans, falling 17 percent from 56 percent to 39 percent in that three-year period. [6]
• Many colleges and universities have been forced to raise tuition in order to close the gaps caused by reduced public funding, creating something of a vicious cycle as increasing tuition leads to increased dissatisfaction or frustration with the institutions. It has also contributed to rising levels of student debt, which has become its own political challenge for higher education.
• Many other colleges and universities have reduced core educational expenditures and cut other services in response to the decline in public funding, which has had an impact on the likelihood that students will complete their degree and certificate programs, in addition to further alienating multiple constituencies.

The problems facing higher education are coming at the sector fast and furious, and from all angles. Multiple books would be needed (and have been published) that attempt to address some or all of these challenges. This brief paper aims neither to be comprehensive nor to suggest solutions to these vexing challenges; rather, its only goal is to offer a simple framework that might help leaders simplify, focus, and assess the challenges in their own contexts. Ultimately, we need for our rich diverse ecosystem of colleges and universities, public policy makers, and the organizations that support and partner in their work, to be positioned to defend, protect and sustain higher education’s extremely important role as a trusted source of knowledge, education, and freedom of inquiry.

• Joseph E. Aoun, Robot Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2017). ↑
• Lawrence S. Bacow, “Installation Address,” Harvard University, October 5, 2018, https://www.harvard.edu/president/speech/2018/installation-address-by-lawrence-s-bacow . ↑
• James J. Duderstadt , “Current Global Trends in Higher Education and Research: Their Impact on Europe,” Dies Academicus 2009 Address, March 12, 2009, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/3146623.pdf . ↑
• “Institutional Revenues per Student at Public Institutions over Time,” College Board , https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/institutional-revenues-student-public-institutions- over-time . ↑
• Hannah Fingerhut, “Republicans Skeptical of Colleges’ Impact on U.S., but Most See Benefits for Workforce Preparation,” Pew Research Center , July 20, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/ . ↑
• Jeffrey M. Jones, “Confidence in Higher Education Down Since 2015,” Gallup Blog , October 9, 2018, https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/242441/confidence-higher-education-down-2015.aspx . ↑

The Ongoing Challenges, and Possible Solutions, to Improving Educational Equity

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Schools across the country were already facing major equity challenges before the pandemic, but the disruptions it caused exacerbated them.

After students came back to school buildings after more than a year of hybrid schooling, districts were dealing with discipline challenges and re-segregating schools. In a national EdWeek Research Center survey from October, 65 percent of the 824 teachers, and school and district leaders surveyed said they were more concerned now than before the pandemic about closing academic opportunity gaps that impact learning for students of different races, socioeconomic levels, disability categories, and English-learner statuses.

But educators trying to prioritize equity have an uphill battle to overcome these challenges, especially in the face of legislation and school policies attempting to fight equity initiatives across the country.

The pandemic and the 2020 murder of George Floyd drove many districts to recognize longstanding racial disparities in academics, discipline, and access to resources and commit to addressing them. But in 2021, a backlash to such equity initiatives accelerated, and has now resulted in 18 states passing laws restricting lessons on race and racism, and many also passing laws restricting the rights and well-being of LGBTQ students.

This slew of Republican-driven legislation presents a new hurdle for districts looking to address racial and other inequities in public schools.

During an Education Week K-12 Essentials forum last week, journalists, educators, and researchers talked about these challenges, and possible solutions to improving equity in education.

Takeru Nagayoshi, who was the Massachusetts teacher of the year in 2020, and one of the speakers at the forum, said he never felt represented as a gay, Asian kid in public school until he read about the Stonewall Riots, the Civil Rights Movement, and the full history of marginalized groups working together to change systems of oppression.

“Those are the learning experiences that inspired me to be a teacher and to commit to a life of making our country better for everyone,” he said.

“Our students really benefit the most when they learn about themselves and the world that they’re in. They’re in a safe space with teachers who provide them with an honest education and accurate history.”

Here are some takeaways from the discussion:

Schools are still heavily segregated

Almost 70 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, most students attend schools where they see a majority of other students of their racial demographics .

Black students, who accounted for 15 percent of public school enrollment in 2019, attended schools where Black students made up an average of 47 percent of enrollment, according to a UCLA report.

They attended schools with a combined Black and Latinx enrollment averaging 67 percent, while Latinx students attended schools with a combined Black and Latinx enrollment averaging 66 percent.

Overall, the proportion of schools where the majority of students are not white increased from 14.8 percent of schools in 2003 to 18.2 percent in 2016.

“Predominantly minority schools [get] fewer resources, and that’s one problem, but there’s another problem too, and it’s a sort of a problem for democracy,” said John Borkowski, education lawyer at Husch Blackwell.

“I think it’s much better for a multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy, when people have opportunities to interact with one another, to learn together, you know, and you see all of the problems we’ve had in recent years with the rising of white supremacy, and white supremacist groups.”

School discipline issues were exacerbated because of student trauma

In the absence of national data on school discipline, anecdotal evidence and expert interviews suggest that suspensions—both in and out of school—and expulsions, declined when students went remote.

In 2021, the number of incidents increased again when most students were back in school buildings, but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels , according to research by Richard Welsh, an associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education.

But forum attendees, who were mostly district and school leaders as well as teachers, disagreed, with 66 percent saying that the pandemic made school incidents warranting discipline worse. That’s likely because of heightened student trauma from the pandemic. Eighty-three percent of forum attendees who responded to a spot survey said they had noticed an increase in behavioral issues since resuming in-person school.

Restorative justice in education is gaining popularity

One reason Welsh thought discipline incidents did not yet surpass pre-pandemic levels despite heightened student trauma is the adoption of restorative justice practices, which focus on conflict resolution, understanding the causes of students’ disruptive behavior, and addressing the reason behind it instead of handing out punishments.

Kansas City Public Schools is one example of a district that has had improvement with restorative justice, with about two thirds of the district’s 35 schools seeing a decrease in suspensions and expulsions in 2021 compared with 2019.

Forum attendees echoed the need for or success of restorative justice, with 36 percent of those who answered a poll within the forum saying restorative justice works in their district or school, and 27 percent saying they wished their district would implement some of its tenets.

However, 12 percent of poll respondents also said that restorative justice had not worked for them. Racial disparities in school discipline also still persist, despite restorative justice being implemented, which indicates that those practices might not be ideal for addressing the over-disciplining of Black, Latinx, and other historically marginalized students.

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What are the Critical Issues in Higher Education?

Mental health, diversity, and employment readiness are among the critical issues facing higher education today.

Key points:

• Addressing critical higher-ed issues demands collaborative efforts from institutions, policymakers, and stakeholders
• Learn about the many diverse issues in higher education
• Stay up-to-date on higher ed tech innovation news

Higher education grapples with myriad challenges, including access and affordability, mental health support, diversity and inclusion, technological integration, student debt, and ensuring graduates are equipped for evolving job markets. These issues, covered in higher ed tech innovation news, intersect with broader concerns such as academic freedom, globalization, and sustainability, shaping the future of education.

What is a current issue in higher education?

As we examine social issues in higher education, we can begin to focus on current issues in higher ed. One pressing issue in higher education today is the growing concern surrounding access and affordability. Rising tuition costs have made attending college increasingly challenging for many students, leading to substantial student debt burdens and barriers to entry for those from marginalized communities. As a result, there’s a widening gap between those who can afford higher education and those who cannot.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, highlighting disparities in access to technology and resources necessary for remote learning. While online education offers flexibility, it also presents challenges for students without reliable internet access or suitable learning environments.

Moreover, the debate over the value of a college degree versus alternative paths to career success has intensified. With the rapid pace of technological advancement, there’s a growing demand for skills-based education and lifelong learning opportunities.

To address these issues, institutions must prioritize initiatives that promote inclusivity, such as expanding financial aid programs, investing in support services for marginalized students, and embracing innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Policymakers also play a crucial role in advocating for policies that make higher education more accessible and affordable for all, ensuring that the benefits of education are equitably distributed across society.

What is the most pressing issue in higher education?

What are the critical issues in higher education? One of the most pressing issues in higher education today is the mental health crisis among students. Across campuses worldwide, students are grappling with high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. The demands of academic rigor, coupled with societal pressures and personal responsibilities, contribute to this crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these issues, with isolation, uncertainty, and disruptions to routines amplifying feelings of distress. Remote learning has led to a lack of social interaction and reduced access to support systems, exacerbating feelings of loneliness and disconnection.

Moreover, there’s often a stigma surrounding mental health issues in academia, which can deter students from seeking help or accessing the resources they need. This stigma must be addressed through education and awareness campaigns to foster a supportive and inclusive campus culture.

To address the mental health crisis in higher education, institutions must prioritize the well-being of their students by investing in comprehensive mental health services, increasing access to counseling and therapy, and promoting mental health literacy. Additionally, creating supportive environments that prioritize work-life balance, stress management, and healthy coping mechanisms is essential. Collaboration between universities, healthcare providers, and community organizations is crucial in developing holistic approaches to addressing the mental health needs of students.

What is the biggest problem facing education?

There are more than a few problems with higher education in the United States. The biggest problem facing education today is the persistent inequity in access and quality. This inequity manifests in various forms, including disparities in funding, resources, and opportunities among schools and communities. Students from marginalized backgrounds, including those from low-income families, minority groups, and rural areas, often face systemic barriers that hinder their educational attainment.

Additionally, the digital divide exacerbates existing inequalities, with many students lacking access to reliable internet connectivity and technology necessary for remote learning. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare these disparities, highlighting the urgent need for equitable solutions to ensure all students have equal access to quality education, regardless of their socio-economic status or geographic location.

Furthermore, the education system’s rigidity and emphasis on standardized testing often fail to accommodate diverse learning styles and individual needs, further widening the achievement gap. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive reforms that prioritize equity, inclusion, and diversity in education policy and practice.

To tackle the inequities in education, it’s crucial to advocate for equitable funding mechanisms, invest in underserved communities, provide targeted support for at-risk students, and promote culturally responsive teaching practices. Additionally, fostering collaboration between stakeholders, including educators, policymakers, parents, and communities, is essential in developing holistic solutions to create a more equitable and accessible education system for all.

What is the biggest problem in higher education?

Higher education problems and solutions are varied, and all have their pros and cons. One of the most significant challenges in higher education today is the escalating crisis of affordability and student debt. Skyrocketing tuition fees, coupled with stagnant household incomes, have made pursuing a college degree increasingly unattainable for many individuals. As a result, students are forced to take on substantial debt burdens to finance their education, leading to long-term financial insecurity and limited opportunities for economic mobility.

Moreover, the burden of student debt disproportionately affects marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities in access to higher education. Low-income students, first-generation college attendees, and students of color are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of student debt, perpetuating cycles of poverty and limiting social mobility.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these challenges, with job losses and economic downturns placing additional financial strain on students and their families. The shift to remote learning has also highlighted disparities in access to technology and resources, widening the gap between affluent and disadvantaged students.

Addressing the crisis of affordability and student debt in higher education requires systemic reforms, including increasing government investment in public universities, expanding need-based financial aid programs, and implementing policies to reduce the reliance on loans. Additionally, promoting transparency in college pricing and advocating for tuition-free or debt-free higher education initiatives are essential steps toward creating a more equitable and accessible higher education system.

Addressing these critical issues in higher education demands collaborative efforts from institutions, policymakers, and stakeholders. By fostering access, equity, and innovation while prioritizing student well-being and preparing graduates for the complexities of the modern world, we can pave the way for a more inclusive and sustainable educational landscape.

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The alarming state of the American student in 2022

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, robin lake and robin lake director, center on reinventing public education - arizona state university @rbnlake travis pillow travis pillow innovation fellow, center on reinventing public education - arizona state university @travispillow.

November 1, 2022

The pandemic was a wrecking ball for U.S. public education, bringing months of school closures, frantic moves to remote instruction, and trauma and isolation.

Kids may be back at school after three disrupted years, but a return to classrooms has not brought a return to normal. Recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed historic declines in American students’ knowledge and skills and widening gaps between the highest- and lowest-scoring students.

But even these sobering results do not tell us the whole story.

After nearly three years of tracking pandemic response by U.S. school systems and synthesizing knowledge about the impacts on students, we sought to establish a baseline understanding of the contours of the crisis: What happened and why, and where do we go from here?

This first annual “ State of the American Student ” report synthesizes nearly three years of research on the academic, mental health, and other impacts of the pandemic and school closures.

It outlines the contours of the crisis American students have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and begins to chart a path to recovery and reinvention for all students—which includes building a new and better approach to public education that ensures an educational crisis of this magnitude cannot happen again.

The state of American students as we emerge from the pandemic is still coming into focus, but here’s what we’ve learned (and haven’t yet learned) about where COVID-19 left us:

1. Students lost critical opportunities to learn and thrive.

• The typical American student lost several months’ worth of learning in language arts and more in mathematics.

• Students suffered crushing increases in anxiety and depression. More than one in 360 U.S. children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.

• Students poorly served before the pandemic were profoundly left behind during it, including many with disabilities whose parents reported they were cut off from essential school and life services.

This deeply traumatic period threatens to reverberate for decades. The academic, social, and mental-health needs are real, they are measurable, and they must be addressed quickly to avoid long-term consequences to individual students, the future workforce, and society.

2. The average effects from COVID mask dire inequities and widely varied impact.

Some students are catching up, but time is running out for others. Every student experienced the pandemic differently, and there is tremendous variation from student to student, with certain populations—namely, Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, as well as other vulnerable populations—suffering the most severe impacts.

The effects were more severe where campuses stayed closed longer. American students are experiencing a K-shaped recovery, in which gaps between the highest- and lowest-scoring students, already growing before the pandemic, are widening into chasms. In the latest NAEP results released in September , national average scores fell five times as much in reading, and four times as much in math, for the lowest-scoring 10 percent of nine-year-olds as they had for the highest-scoring 10 percent.

At the pace of recovery we are seeing today, too many students of all races and income levels will graduate in the coming years without the skills and knowledge needed for college and careers.

3. What we know at this point is incomplete. The situation could be significantly worse than the early data suggest.

The data and stories we have to date are enough to warrant immediate action, but there are serious holes in our understanding of how the pandemic has affected various groups of students, especially those who are typically most likely to fall through the cracks in the American education system.

We know little about students with complex needs, such as those with disabilities and English learners. We still know too little about the learning impacts in non-tested subjects, such as science, civics, and foreign languages. And while psychologists , educators , and the federal government are sounding alarms about a youth mental health crisis, systematic measures of student wellbeing remain hard to come by.

We must acknowledge that what we know at this point is incomplete, since the pandemic closures and following recovery have been so unprecedented in recent times. It’s possible that as we continue to dig into the evidence on the pandemic’s impacts, some student groups or subjects may have not been so adversely affected. Alternatively, the situation could be significantly worse than the early data suggest. Some students are already bouncing back quickly. But for others, the impact could grow worse over time.

In subjects like math, where learning is cumulative, pandemic-related gaps in students’ learning that emerged during the pandemic could affect their ability to grasp future material. In some states, test scores fell dramatically for high schoolers nearing graduation. Shifts in these students’ academic trajectories could affect their college plans—and the rest of their lives. And elevated rates of chronic absenteeism suggest some students who disconnected from school during the pandemic have struggled to reconnect since.

4. The harms students experienced can be traced to a rigid and inequitable system that put adults, not students, first.

• Despite often heroic efforts by caring adults, students and families were cut off from essential support, offered radically diminished learning opportunities, and left to their own devices to support learning.

• Too often, partisan politics, not student needs , drove decision-making.

• Students with complexities and differences too often faced systems immobilized by fear and a commitment to sameness rather than prioritization and problem-solving.

So, what can we do to address the situation we’re in?

Diverse needs demand diverse solutions that are informed by pandemic experiences

Freed from the routines of rigid systems, some parents, communities, and educators found new ways to tailor learning experiences around students’ needs. They discovered learning can happen any time and anywhere. They discovered enriching activities outside class and troves of untapped adult talent.

Some of these breakthroughs happened in public schools—like virtual IEP meetings that leveled power dynamics between administrators and parents advocating for their children’s special education services. Others happened in learning pods or other new environments where families and community groups devised new ways to meet students’ needs. These were exceptions to an otherwise miserable rule, and they can inform the work ahead.

We must act quickly but we must also act differently. Important next steps include:

• Districts and states should immediately use their federal dollars to address the emergent needs of the COVID-19 generation of students via proven interventions, such as well-designed tutoring, extended learning time, credit recovery, additional mental health support, college and career guidance, and mentoring. The challenges ahead are too daunting for schools to shoulder alone. Partnerships and funding for families and community-driven solutions will be critical.

• By the end of the 2022–2023 academic year, states and districts must commit to an honest accounting of rebuilding efforts by defining, adopting, and reporting on their progress toward 5- and 10-year goals for long-term student recovery. States should invest in rigorous studies that document, analyze, and improve their approaches.

• Education leaders and researchers must adopt a national research and development agenda for school reinvention over the next five years. This effort must be anchored in the reality that the needs of students are so varied, so profound, and so multifaceted that a one-size-fits-all approach to education can’t possibly meet them all. Across the country, community organizations who previously operated summer or afterschool programs stepped up to support students during the school day. As they focus on recovery, school system leaders should look to these helpers not as peripheral players in education, but as critical contributors who can provide teaching , tutoring, or joyful learning environments for students and often have trusting relationships with their families.

• Recovery and rebuilding should ensure the system is more resilient and prepared for future crises. That means more thoughtful integration of online learning and stronger partnerships with organizations that support learning outside school walls. Every school system in America should have a plan to keep students safe and learning even when they can’t physically come to school, be equipped to deliver high-quality, individualized pathways for students, and build on practices that show promise.

Our “State of the American Student” report is the first in a series of annual reports the Center on Reinventing Public Education intends to produce through fall of 2027. We hope every state and community will produce similar, annual accounts and begin to define ambitious goals for recovery. The implications of these deeply traumatic years will reverberate for decades unless we find a path not only to normalcy but also to restitution for this generation and future generations of American students.

The road to recovery can lead somewhere new. In five years, we hope to report that out of the ashes of the pandemic, American public education emerged transformed: more flexible and resilient, more individualized and equitable, and—most of all— more joyful.

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• Published: 17 April 2024

How popularising higher education affects economic growth and poverty alleviation: empirical evidence from 38 countries

• Jian Li   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3228-8163 1   na1 ,
• Eryong Xue   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7079-5027 2   na1 ,
• Yukai Wei   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5202-7307 2 &
• Yunshu He   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4814-9835 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  520 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The popularisation of higher education supports UNESCO’s aim of developing inclusive and equitable quality education to achieve the fourth Sustainable Development Goal. However, the effect of popularising higher education on economic growth and poverty alleviation remains unexplored. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of higher education and adult education within populations (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (gross domestic product; GDP) and the poverty line using panel data from 38 countries. OLS and quantile regression were performed using data for the period 1995–2021 extracted from the OECD and World Bank databases. The results showed that the population segments with higher education had a significantly positive impact on GDP growth. Moreover, an increased proportion of the population with higher education, of working age, was found to be a contributing factor to GDP growth. Popularising higher education also played a positive role during the initial stage of social and economic development. This study also highlighted that popularising higher education play a key role to influence a country’s educational development and scientific and technological innovation drives the deepening of a country’s economy. It suggested that both national and local governments worldwide should pay much attention to the popularisation degree of higher education to greatly improve the innovative ability of talents and scientific and technological innovation in higher education for both the economic growth and poverty alleviation.

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Introduction.

The popularisation of higher education critically contributes to UNESCO’s efforts to realise the fourth Sustainable Development Goal of inclusive and equitable quality education (Ainscow, 2020 ; Bamberger and Kim, 2022 ).Popularisation of higher education expands the scale of higher education and its high growth rate introduces considerable challenges to the management structure of higher education, triggering a series of theoretical and practical concerns relating to the nature and function of higher education (Balestra and Ruiz, 2015 ; Brand, 2021 ). Given that education and social and economic development are mutually reinforcing, the expansion of higher education leads to an ascending spiral of development for individuals and/or economies. By contrast, a lack of education or early withdrawal from education leads to a downward spiral for them (Camilla, 2023 ). This relationship between education and development undergirds the model of poverty alleviation based on the return on education (Decancq, 2017 ). The previous studies emphasise the importance of the return on education as a multidimensional anti-poverty mechanism and thus a key factor in poverty alleviation (Fang et al., 2022 ; Chelli et al., 2022 ; Garritzmann, 2016 ). For example, return on education is the key factor enabling a transition from poverty alleviation through education to poverty alleviation through education (Gillian et al., 2021 ; Gong and Hong, 2021 ). Poverty alleviation is realised through an interlinking of these two processes and the promotion of the latter (Granata, 2022 ; Habibi and Zabardast, 2020 ). The educational resources can meet the needs of the poor mainly through the return on education at the levels of survival and life quality. In addition, the previous studies highlighted that, with a continuous expansion in the scale of higher education, its economic effect gradually appears to become marginal (Hoeller et al., 2014 ). The density of colleges and universities worldwide has increased considerably in recent years, but it is still inadequate to meet increasing demands resulting from the ongoing popularisation of higher education (Jericho, 2016 ). The increase in the number of colleges and universities has a positive effect in promoting economic development but with marginal benefits. (Julian, 2018 ).

Through reviewed the current relevant studies, it is found that there have limited studies that have simultaneously explored the effects of popularising higher education on economic growth and poverty alleviation. The previous research revealed that most studies have focused on the relations between popularisation of higher education and economic growth. However, a few empirical investigations have examined the effect of population segments with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and poverty reduction. Considering the scope and limitations of previous studies, it aimed to address the above research gap by investigating the effect of a population segment with high levels of higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line at a wide scale using panel data from 38 countries. The main research questions addressed in this study are as follows.

Q1: What is the effect of a population segment with higher education on GDP growth?

Q2: What is the effect of adult education on GDP growth?

Q3: What impact does a population segment with higher education have on reducing the proportion of those experiencing poverty?

Q4: What is the relation between an increased level of adult education and the proportion of the population experiencing poverty?

All these questions are relevant to an exploration of the effect of the population segment with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line. This study is divided into several sections: the first section concentrates on examining the effect of popularising higher education on economic growth and the poverty line, the relationship between popularisation of higher education and poverty alleviation, and the relationship between popularisation of higher education and poverty alleviation. In the second section of method, to address this research gap, this study performed OLS and quantile regressions using data extracted from the OECD and World Bank databases for the period 1995–2021. An OLS regression model and a panel quantile model were used to analyse the effect of a population segment with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line within 38 OECD countries. The impact of the proportion of people aged 24–64 years and 25–34 years who had completed higher education in relation to their peers on GDP and the proportion of people living in poverty in 38 OECD countries have been measured and analysed. The results and discussion have been provided at the last.

Literature review

The effect of popularising higher education on economic growth.

The population segment with higher education is regarded as an important contributor to economic growth, generating scientific knowledge and providing labour, which in turn increases human capital and productivity (Jungblut, 2017 ; Kalamova, 2020 ; Liu, 2017 ). As the scale of higher education expands, the emergence of knowledge power as a large-scale global phenomenon reflects the important role of an expanded educated labour force in the advancement of science and technology and the economy. For example, the relationship between higher education and economic development in European Union countries between 1997 and 2016 was analysed. Their findings revealed a statistically significant correlation between expanding higher education and economic growth in the selected countries. The one-way cause-and-effect relationship between education and economic development in these countries suggests that an increase in the proportion of the population enroled in higher education boosts economic performance. In addition, using a survey sample of 35 households, a retrospective study in Brazil, examined the role of educational expansion in reducing income inequality and poverty. Its findings suggest that it would take decades to reduce inequality and poverty in this country and that this outcome could only be achieved through a major expansion of the higher education sector. The growth needed to achieve this outcome would be considerable (Lamichhane et al., 2021 ). This reduction in inequality and poverty could only be achieved if optimistic assumptions about growth, matching job skills and the return on education do not fall short. In brief, education is not a panacea for reducing poverty and inequality. How three major stages of education contributed to the growth in labour productivity in 125 countries during the period 1999–2014 was also explored. They found that human capital is consistent with the educational returns of an average number of years of formal education at the levels of primary, secondary, and higher education. Their analysis showed that higher education had the greatest impact on labour productivity in the economies under study (Ledger et al., 2019 ). In addition, popularising higher education plays an important role in promoting economic growth, as the scale of higher education can guarantee the scale of human resources development by improving the quality of human resources and cultivating and distributing innovative scientific and technological talents. The scale of higher education guarantees the spread of science and technology and the popularisation of scientific and technological achievements (Mathias, 2023 ; Megyesiova and Lieskovska, 2018 ). The expanded scale of higher education worldwide has a spatial spillover effect on economic growth, which is strengthened through international cooperation in the fields of science and technology.

Popularising higher education also plays a direct role in cultivating and transporting scientific and technological talents to promote international scientific and technological cooperation (Mitic, 2018 ; Özdoğan Özbal, 2021 ; OECD, 2022 ; Pinheiro and Pillay, 2016 ). The scale of postgraduate education inhibited the total number of scientific and technological innovation achievements, indicating that there may be a trade-off between ‘quantity expansion’ and ‘quality upgrading’ of scientific and technological innovation achievements. Nevertheless, the positive effect on the number of high-tech innovation outcomes is significant, indicating that the supporting effect of graduate education on scientific and technological innovation is mainly concentrated in the high-tech fields (Pinheiro and Pillay, 2016 ; Rowe, 2019 ; Sahnoun and Abdennadher, 2022 ). The ‘talent increment’ of regional expansion and the ‘resource stock’ of graduate education have a combined promoting effect on high-tech innovation. There are differences in the effect of graduate education supporting high-tech innovation among provinces with different characteristics relating to the development of graduate education. The incremental expansion of high-quality talent is essential for enhancing the efficiency of material capital and stabilising the advantage of resource stocks. Using education statistics from OECD countries, Russia, and several other countries that participate in OECD education research, comparative and correlational analysis methods were applied to analyse how the scale of growth in young people’s participation in higher education is reflected in changes in their employment and economic activity. The results of their analysis showed that the growth in economic activity involving young graduates with a master’s degree exceeded that of college graduates after the 2009 financial crisis, and graduates fared better in the 2020 crisis, which was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effect of popularisation of higher education on poverty alleviation

Popularisation of higher education is regarded as an essential factor contributing to poverty alleviation (Samo, 2022 ; Adams, 2013 ; Zapp, 2022 ). The higher education’s role in promoting economic growth can only be fully realised through the cultivation of talents suitable for the actual development situation of the country. Countries with food shortages, for example in Africa, also need to procure and train the right agricultural talent. Key drivers of sustainable agricultural production include access to improved technologies, sustainable growth of human, biological and natural resource capital, improvements in institutional performance and a favourable economic policy environment. Higher education graduates with the necessary ‘soft skills and business skills constitute an important pillar. Chakeredza ( 2008 ), who explored the effect of popularising higher education on poverty alleviation, suggested that the number of hungry people in Africa will continue to increase. Higher education in agriculture must be transformed, and efforts must focus on retaining faculty and on reviewing and redesigning institutional management systems, curriculum content and education delivery.

There are many reasons for poverty, with a lack of education being an important one. Insufficient quality education leads to educational poverty. Using PISA data, Agasisti et al. ( 2021 ) investigated the extent of educational poverty in European countries, considering its incidence, breadth, depth and severity. For this study, they adopted an additive multidimensional poverty measure proposed by Alkirew and Foster. Their findings indicated that between 2006 and 2015, the depth and severity of poverty decreased in most of the countries under study. Moreover, the incidence of educational poverty in many European countries was related mainly to student characteristics and school factors. The expansion of higher education has a positive effect on economic development and poverty reduction by improving work skills within the labour force. Increased enrolment in higher education encourages individuals born in families with low education levels to avail of higher education opportunities. Evidently, the expanded scale of higher education in the process of promoting economic growth has enhanced the equity effect of intergenerational social mobility. The expansion of higher education improves total factor productivity, thus promoting economic transformation and advancement globally (Samo, 2022 ; Adams, 2013 ; Zapp, 2022 ). Furthermore, the previous studies have shown that the structure of higher education talent training has a significant impact on economic development. Therefore, government departments need to make constant efforts to improve relevant systems and promote the optimisation and upgrading of the structure of higher education talent training to meet the needs of future economic development.

Theoretical underpinnings

The relationship between education and economic growth is a classic issue in the study of educational economics. For example, in Solow’s view, the growth of per capita output comes from per capita capital stock and technological progress, but capital investment has the problem of diminishing marginal returns, and the long-term sustainable development of the economy depends on technological progress (Solow, 1957 ). The emphasis on technological progress is a very important point in Solow’s growth theory. It was Schultz who systematically analyzed the contribution of education to economic growth. Influenced by the progress of economic growth theory and national accounting methods, Schulz proposed human capital theory in the process of explaining Solow residuals (Schultz, 1961 ). believes that once human capital is included in economic growth, it will solve the paradoxes and puzzles faced in economic growth research. Starting with the difference in income of different types of workers in the labour market, he found that education and health factors are the main reasons for the income difference, and further clarified that the reason for the income difference is the difference in labor productivity (Schultz, 1961 ). Schultz ( 1961 ) believes that human resources include the quantity and quality of labor, and he mainly focuses on the skills and knowledge of people who can improve labor productivity. As for how to measure human capital investment, Schulz believes that the cost of human capital can be measured in the same way as physical capital. Lucas ( 1988 ) focuses on the mechanism of human capital accumulation and why human capital does not show diminishing marginal returns like physical capital. Lucas divides the effect of human capital into internal effect and external effect. Romer ( 1990 ) internalised technological progress, revealed the relationship between human capital and technological progress, and proposed that the stock of human capital determines the economic growth rate, and it is human capital rather than population that determines economic growth. Romer starts with three hypotheses: first, technological progress is central to long-term economic growth; Second, technological progress is formed by people’s response to market incentives, and market incentives determine technological progress. Third, technology is a special kind of product, and once the cost of the initial input is produced, the technology can be reproduced indefinitely at no cost or very low cost.

In other words, higher education is more about improving students’ ability and productivity, thereby increasing students’ income, and promoting economic growth. Higher education mainly affects economic growth through two aspects: one is the same as Schulz’s improvement of individual ability, and the internal effect of human capital, which directly affects the production process (Schultz, 1961 ). Second, Lucas emphasised the external effect of human capital, and the comprehensive effect of human capital on the whole society, which has the characteristics of increasing marginal benefit (Lucas, 1988 ). It emphasises that the human capital invested in technological innovation and the existing knowledge and technology stock of the whole society jointly determine technological innovation.

Research hypotheses and analytical model

In this study, an OLS regression model and a panel quantile model were used to analyse the effect of a population segment with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line within 38 OECD countries. The study’s hypotheses were as follows:

Hypothesis 1: The effect of a population segment with higher education has a positive impact on GDP growth.

Hypothesis 2: Some level of adult education has a positive impact on GDP growth.

Hypothesis 3: A population segment with higher education has a positive impact by reducing the proportion of the population experiencing poverty.

Hypothesis 4: An increase in the level of adult education has a positive impact by reducing the proportion of the population experiencing poverty.

The widely used Mankiw-Romer-Weil model was applied in this study. The overall level of development of higher education and the popularisation of higher education were considered core elements that independently promote economic development and alleviate poverty. The following model was constructed by incorporating the variable of quality higher education into the Solow model:

where Y it refers to the output of i country in t year. The independent variables Qit and P it respectively represent the scale of development and the degree of popularisation of higher education in i country in t year. The following specific model was constructed:

The independent variables were the proportion of people aged 25–64 years with higher education (A) and the proportion of people aged 25–34 years with higher education within the same age group (B). The first variable reflects the population segment that has completed higher education and can work in the corresponding age group. The second reflects the degree of popularisation of higher education. The proportion of those who have completed higher education in relation to their peers is in the normal state, which can reflect the enrolment rate for the previous process of higher education, thus indicating the degree of popularisation of higher education.

The dependent variables were GDP and the poverty line (D). GDP is a measure the overall level of a country’s economic and social development. The poverty line refers to the proportion of people living on less than US$1.25 a day as a percentage of the country’s total population or the proportion of people living in poverty. Thus, it reflects the level of equity in social development. The figure of US$2.15 is used in the World Bank’s index and is based on the purchasing power parity in 2017 (see Table 1 ).

Data sources and selection of variables

This study measured the impact of the proportion of people aged 24–64 years and 25–34 years who had completed higher education in relation to their peers on GDP and the proportion of people living in poverty in 28 OECD countries. Specifically, this study assessed the impact of the overall level of development of higher education and the degree of its popularisation (the breadth of development of higher education) on GDP (the height of development of economic and social development) and the poverty line (the breadth of development of economic and social development). Data were sourced from the OECD database and the World Bank website covering the period 1995–2021. This study selected 38 OECD countries for this study: the United States, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Japan, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, South Korea, Slovakia, Chile, Slovenia, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania Colombia and Costa Rica. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the 38 OECD countries. Of these countries, 20 were founding members of the OECD when it was established in 1961, while the remaining 18 subsequently became members. After 1994, OECD membership expanded rapidly. Five new members were added within three years. OECD then entered a period of accelerated development, and its operations and advancement reached an optimal stage. Therefore, this study selected data from the OECD database and the World Bank website covering the period 1995–2021 to explore the relationship between higher education and economic and social development in OECD member countries.

It expresses the geographical relations of the Atlantic region and simplifies the latitude and longitude lines and country symbols, highlighting the geographical distribution by highlighting OECD countries in color and other countries in apricot color.

The impact of the population segment with higher education on GDP growth

This study explored the impact of the population segment with higher education on GDP, taking the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education (B) and the proportion of people aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education (A) as the independent variables for the OLS regression. The square value of model R was 0.097, indicating that the two independent variables could explain 9.73% of the change in GDP. The model passed an F test ( F  = 46.137, p  = 0.000 < 0.05), indicating that at least one of the two independent variables impacted the GDP regression coefficient (C). The following formula was used:

The final analysis revealed that the regression coefficient value of A was 1.553 and the significance level was 0.01 ( t  = 7.141, p  = 0.000 < 0.01). Therefore, A had a significantly positive influence on C. Accordingly, the proportion of the population aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education, that is, the overall level of development of higher education was found to have a positive impact on GDP. The influence coefficient value was 1.533, indicating that an increase in the proportion of the population with completed higher education led to an increase in GDP.

The regression coefficient value of B was −0.813 at a 0.01 level of significance ( t  = −4.300, p  = 0.000 < 0.01), indicating that B had a significantly negative influence on C. The proportion of the population aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education, that is, the degree of popularisation of higher education had a negative effect on GDP, and the influence coefficient value was −0.813.

The negative impact on economic and social development caused by an increase in the popularity of higher education and the proportion of young people’s higher education experience may be attributed to the excess capacity of higher education. The development of higher education should be adapted to the national context. An excess of higher education and a lack of investment lead to a rise in the social cost of education and a decline in social outputs, which hinder social and economic development. At the same time, young people aged between 25 and 34 years occupy the position of’ export’ in the education process. With the increasing popularity of higher education, the supply of talents in the labour market generated through the recruitment of former higher education exceeds the demand for graduates with higher education within recruiting organisations. Consequently, issues such as wasted educational resources and knowledge, unemployment, excessive education, excess talents, an imbalance in the structure of higher education, excessive expansion and decreasing compatibility undermine economic operations and hinder GDP growth.

In this study, the variance decomposition and Pearson coefficient based on covariance calculation were analyzed. The variable of the number of 25–34-year-old who have completed higher education as a percentage of their peers explains 50.74% of the change in GDP. The variable of the proportion of 25–64-year-old who have completed higher education explains 49.26% of the change in GDP. The variable of 25- to 34-year-olds who completed higher education as a percentage of their peers explained 45.88% of the change in poverty line. The variable of the proportion of people aged 25–64 who have completed higher education explains 54.12% of the change in GDP (See Table 2 ).

The proportion of people aged 25–34 who have completed higher education in their peers and the proportion of people aged 25–64 who have completed higher education in their peers, GDP and poverty line showed significant correlation coefficients. The correlation between the proportion of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–34 and the proportion of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–64 is 0.931, and shows a significance of 0.01, which indicates that there is a significant positive correlation between the proportion of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–34 and the proportion of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–64. The correlation between the proportion of the number of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–34 and the GDP is 0.209, and the significance is 0.01, which indicates that there is a significant positive correlation between the number of people who have completed higher education at the age of 25–34 and the GDP. The correlation between the number of people who have completed higher education and the poverty line at the age of 25–34 is −0.365, with a significance of 0.01, indicating a significant negative correlation between the number of people who have completed higher education and the poverty line at the age of 25–34 (See Table 2 ).

White test and BP test were used in this study. The test null hypothesis is that the model has no heteroscedasticity. The table above shows that both tests reject the null hypothesis ( p  < 0.05), indicating that the model does have heteroscedasticity. When there is a heteroscedasticity problem, Robust and robust standard false regression is used (See Table 3 ).

The impact of a population segment with higher education on the poverty line

This study also explored the impact of a population segment with higher education on the poverty line. Specifically, this study performed an OLS regression in which the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education (B) and the proportion of those aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education (A) were the independent variables. As Table 2 shows, the R squared value was 0.134. This means that variables A and B could explain 13.37% of the change in the poverty line (D). The model passed the F test ( F  = 48.771, p  = 0.000 < 0.05), which means that at least one variable (A or B) had an impact on the poverty line. The formula for the change in the poverty line was expressed as follows:

The final analysis revealed that the regression coefficient value of the proportion of people aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education (A) was 0.005 but with no significance ( t  = 0.428, p  = 0.669 > 0.05), indicating that the population segment with higher education did not have an impact on the poverty line.

The regression coefficient value of the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education (B) was −0.048 at a significance level of 0.01 ( t  = −4.305, p  = 0.000 < 0.01), which means that in relation to their peers, the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education had a significantly negative impact on the proportion of poor people. A higher proportion of people aged 25–34-years who had completed higher education corresponded to a higher penetration rate of higher education and a lower proportion of those living in poverty. This phenomenon can be attributed to OECD’s support for the development of higher education in various countries. When the development of higher education reaches a certain level, the reduction of the proportion of the population segment experiencing poverty will no longer be affected by a simple expansion of the scale of extended higher education and the superposition of the total number of highly educated human resources. It will be influenced more by the reasonable distribution of educational resources and educational equity within higher education and its popularisation, that is, the increase in the proportion of the school-aged population aged 25–34 years based on the increase of the previous enrolment rate (see Table 4 ).

The effect of adult education on GDP growth

For quantile regression analysis, a total of nine models (with decimal points ranging from 0.10 to 0.90 and at intervals of 0.10) were estimated in this analysis, which aimed to explore the impact of the independent variables A and B on the dependent variable, GDP (C). When the quantile value was between 0.1 and 0.3, the proportion of the population aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education (A) had no significant positive impact on GDP growth, indicating that the development of higher education did not significantly affect economic and social development in poorer OECD countries. When the quantile value was between 0.4 and 0.6, the level of development of higher education had a significantly negative impact on economic and social development. Thus, for a country that had developed over a period, the advancement of higher education required multiple inputs, such as capital, material, and human resources.

During the early stage of the development of higher education, such inputs may, however, have a negative and weakening impact on social and economic development. The added cost of education and the lag between the output of educational achievements and the input of talents puts increased pressure on economic and social development during a certain period. When the quantile value was 0.7 or higher, the improvement of the overall level of higher education had a significantly positive impact on GDP growth, indicating the realisation of the talent training outcomes of higher education. Teaching and research outcomes were thus transformed into socially productive resources and power, with talents with higher education contributing to economic and social development.

When the quantile value was 0.1, the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education in relation to their peers (variable B), indicating the popularisation of higher education, had no significant impact on GDP growth. Thus, in extremely backward countries, the popularisation of higher education had little effect on economic and social development. When the quantile value ranged between 0.2 and 0.6, the popularisation of higher education had a significantly positive effect on GDP growth, indicating its contribution to economic growth.

When the quantile value was 0.7, the influence of variable B on variable C was no longer significant, indicating that social development would soon face the problem of overcapacity in higher education. When it exceeded 0.7, the ratio of eligible people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education in relation to their peers had a significantly negative impact on GDP growth, revealing that with the development of the economy, society and education, higher education had become overexpanded. Thus, the cost of investing in education exceeded the social benefits, leading to overcapacity whereby the supply of higher education talents exceeded the demand. This situation led to wasted educational resources and excessive competition of talents, hindering economic growth (See Table 5 ).

The increased level of adult education and the proportion of the population experiencing poverty

Using the same model, this study explored the influence of the independent variables, A and B, on the poverty line (dependent variable D). The proportion of the population aged 25–64 years who had completed higher education (independent variable A) had no significant influence on the proportion of the population living in poverty, indicating that popularisation of education and economic and social development have been achieved to a certain extent in OECD countries, and improvements targeting the population experiencing poverty could no longer be achieved simply by increasing the volume and quantity of higher education. When the quantile value was 0.1, the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who had completed higher education in relation to their peers (independent variable B) had no significant effect on the proportion of the population experiencing poverty (dependent variable D). Therefore, the strategy of increasing higher education enrolment and the ratio of the eligible population through the fair allocation of educational resources, and thus the popularisation of education, would not be effective for a small population segment experiencing poverty. In other words, the population segment experiencing poverty in highly developed countries is less receptive to the popularisation of higher education. When the quantile value was 0.2, the independent variable, B, had a significantly positive impact on the dependent variable D, that is, an increase in the popularity of higher education led to an increase in the population segment experiencing poverty. This phenomenon can be interpreted as reflecting the inherent disadvantages of the welfare state in the field of education. A rise in the number of eligible young people aged 25–34 years who have completed higher education reflects the development trend of higher education towards fairness and popularisation following the redistribution of higher education resources.

The fair distribution of higher education resources leads to a lack of competition in the areas of teaching and career development. To a certain extent, reducing students’ willingness and enthusiasm to work may lead to poverty caused by the failure to achieve teaching results. When the quantile value was between 0.3 and 0.4, the independent variable, B, had no significant influence on the dependent variable D. In relatively poor countries, the popularisation of higher education contributes little to reducing the degree of poverty, so it may be necessary to explore ways of alleviating poverty from the perspective of improving the overall level and expanding the scale of basic higher education. When the quantile value was 0.5 or above, the independent variable B had a significantly negative impact on the dependent variable D, indicating that for countries with a relatively high proportion of their population experiencing poverty, the following strategy would be more effective.

Considering the quantile data, this study deemed that the degree of sensitivity of countries at different stages of economic development to the level of development and popularisation of higher education could be more intuitively evaluated using a radar map (see Fig. 2 ). Countries with sub-points 0.1–0.9 were defined along a spectrum as extremely backward, backward, moderately backward, slightly backward, moderate, preliminarily developed, moderately developed, developed, and highly developed. From the perspective of economic development, increasing the proportion of young people who complete higher education and popularising higher education had an obvious positive effect in backward and medium-developed countries, whereas the effect in highly developed countries was not obvious. Overall, the sensitivity of OECD countries to the high level of education penetration was found to be higher than the level of development of higher education. From the perspective of equitable economic development, the overall level of development of higher education had no significant impact on the poverty link in OECD countries, whereas OECD countries with differing economic development backgrounds and at varying stages of development evidenced relatively significant and stable sensitivity to the proportion of young and middle-aged people who completed higher education and the popularisation of higher education.

The dashed line represents the proportion of people aged 25–34 years who have completed higher education. The solid line represents the proportion of people aged 25–64 years who have completed higher education, the impact of the overall level of higher education.

Our findings indicated that population segments with higher education had a significantly positive impact on GDP growth in 38 OECD countries. An increase in the proportion of the population segment of working age who completed higher education was found to contribute to GDP growth. Moreover, an improvement in the popularity of higher education played a positive role during the initial stage of economic and social development.

At the same time, oversupply and overcapacity may result from a continuous improvement of higher education. A very large number of young people who have completed higher education can lead to excessive competition and wasted academic qualifications (Mathias, 2023 ; Megyesiova and Lieskovska, 2018 ). In turn, higher education knowledge unemployment, overinvestment, a structural imbalance, disorderly expansion and wasted resources can occur, which have detrimental impacts on economic operations.

Some studies have shown that strengthening the quality of higher education helps to improve cognitive abilities within the labour force, thereby enhancing the growth of the knowledge economy (Ainscow, 2020 ; Bamberger and Kim, 2022 ). Other studies have reported regional heterogeneity relating to the marginal effect of improving the quality of higher education on economic growth. Some scholars have analysed the influence of the quality of higher education on economic development from the perspective of human capital investment theory. Their findings indicate that the quality of higher education determines the composition and growth trend of social human capital. Because of differences in the degrees of development of different economies, the quality of higher education has a phased influence on economic growth (Balestra and Ruiz, 2015 ; Brand, 2021 ). Case studies of African developing countries by international scholars have revealed that quality factors are key to realising the economic development function of higher education. From the perspectives of both efficient financial investments by states in education poverty alleviation and the effects of economic, time and emotional investments of poor families and individuals in education poverty alleviation, it is necessary to take the return on education into consideration. Moreover, it is important to respond to reasonable concerns regarding the return on education for poor people and to strengthen their cognitive capacities to rationalise as well as their expectations regarding returns on education (Li et al., 2023 ). In this way, the intention to participate and behaviour of anti-poverty education will be generated, and the strategic upgrading of poverty alleviation combined with the promotion of aspirations and cognitive capacities will be emphasised.

Implications

Our use of panel data from 38 countries to deepen understanding of the effect of popularising higher education on economic growth and poverty reduction also has practical implications. The economic, social, and higher education undertakings in OECD countries evidence a certain level of development. The population segment with higher education has no significant impact on reducing the proportion of the population segment experiencing poverty. Simply increasing the proportion of people who complete higher education and expanding the scale of higher education will not effectively reduce poverty (Li and Xue, 2021 ). Providing more educational opportunities to poor people through the slanting of educational resources can help to reduce the proportion of poor people (Ainscow, 2020 ; Bamberger and Kim, 2022 ). For example, popularising higher education plays a key role to influence a country’s development level and scientific and technological innovation drives the deepening of a country’s economy (Bamberger and Kim, 2022 ). Technological progress is the core of economic growth, scientific and technological innovation brings technological change and development in all aspects, human capital promotes economic growth, and higher education trains talents and improves the capital attribute of human (Camilla, 2023 ). For endogenous economic growth theory, the economy does not rely on external forces to achieve sustained growth, and endogenous technological progress determines sustained economic growth. Popularising higher education worldwide brings the accumulation of human capital, improves the quality of workers, and scientific and technological innovation makes technological progress and high-quality economic development, practically. Human capital accumulation is also the process of continuous input of labour force, which covers the accumulation of human capital by labour force factors in formal education, training, and other learning processes. From the perspective of human capital, popularising higher education is the most direct and efficient way to promote the accumulation of human capital and improve the quality of labour force (Balestra and Ruiz, 2015 ; Brand, 2021 ). The popularisation degree of higher education is one of the important indicators to measure the development level of a country’s economic, and it is also the common trend of the development of higher education in all countries after World War II. In this transitional era, how to continue the achievements of higher education in the popular era and solve the existing problems as soon as possible is the heavy responsibility of our times. Therefore, at the initial stage of popularisation of higher education, it is necessary to re-examine the process of higher education popularisation globally and explore the internal logics between the popularisation of higher education and Sustainable Development Goal of inclusive and equitable quality education (Ainscow, 2020 ; Bamberger and Kim, 2022 ).

For policy suggestions, this study suggests that both national and local governments worldwide should pay much attention to the popularisation degree of higher education to greatly improve the innovative ability of talents and scientific and technological innovation in higher education. For example, they could promote scientific and technological innovation in an organised manner to serve national and regional economic and social development. Faced with the current situation in which global higher education has entered a stage of popularisation and new challenges and problems in serving regional economic and social development, national governments should continue to optimise the distribution and structure of higher education resources to support different regions, focusing on the major strategy of enhancing national competitiveness, serving economic and social development, and promoting common prosperity.

Contributions

This study novelty contributes on examining how popularising higher education affects economic growth and poverty alleviation, conceptually, methodologically, and practically. For instance, this study focuses on epitomising the conceptual and analytical model to explore the effects of higher education and adult education within populations (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (gross domestic product; GDP) and the poverty line. In addition, this study novelty combines both Mankiw-Romer-Weil model Solow model to investigate the effects of higher education and adult education within populations on economic growth and the poverty through OLS regression model and quantile model. For the practical aspect, this study practically uncovers the implicit significance of the popularisation of higher education for advocating UNESCO’s aim of developing inclusive and equitable quality education to achieve the fourth Sustainable Development Goal.

Limitations

This study had some limitations. Data could have been collected from a larger sample of OECD countries to explore the effect of population segments with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line. In addition, a qualitative component could be included in future studies to uncover the cultural and historical contexts of the effect of popularising higher education on economic growth and poverty reduction at the local level. Future studies should also investigate the causal relationship between the popularisation of higher education and economic growth. Additional empirical data and advanced research methods can be used to enable a shift from correlation to causality.

In conclusion, this study examined the effect of the population segment with higher education and adult education (popularisation of higher education) on economic growth (GDP) and the poverty line using panel data from 38 countries. The population segment with higher education was found to have a significant positive impact on promoting GDP growth. An increase in the proportion of the working-age population segment that had completed higher education was evidently conducive to GDP growth. Popularisation of higher education was also found to play a positive role in the initial stage of economic and social development.

Data availability

The data of OECD country GDP is retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=1W , The data of OECD country poverty line is retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?locations=1W&start=1984&view=chart , The data of OECD country Population with tertiary education 25–34-year-old is retrieved from https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm#indicator-chart , The data of OECD country Percentage of 25–64-year old’s who have completed higher education (%) is retrieved from https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/adult-education-level.htm#indicator-chart , The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in Harvard Dataverse https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/TP43QS .

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Acknowledgements

This study is funded by 2021 National Social Science Foundation of Higher Education Ideological and Political Course research (Key project) Ideological and Political Education System Construction System Mechanism Research in New Era (No.: 21VSZ004).

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Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

China Institute of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

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Li, J., Xue, E., Wei, Y. et al. How popularising higher education affects economic growth and poverty alleviation: empirical evidence from 38 countries. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 520 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03013-5

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The Problems (And Solutions) Of Higher Education

Contracting expert and co-founder of yourClass

Editor's Note: This post is part of a series produced by HuffPost's Girls In STEM Mentorship Program. Join the community as we discuss issues affecting women in science, technology, engineering and math.

Earlier this year, I was accepted to the George Washington University Law School. It was a school I had been dying to go to, with the top LLM program in the nation for lawyers looking to specialize in government procurement -- and GW had all of the things that I wanted in a university: a prime location in Washington, D.C., a network of well-connected professionals in the federal government, and, at least for the program I wanted to attend, the best list of thinkers and educators in the field of government procurement.

I couldn't wait to begin. After four years of working in the field as a professional lawyer, I was itching to deepen my knowledge in a subject area that I loved.

But, when it came time to fork over the cash, it dawned on me that I couldn't afford it -- and still enjoy the life that I currently live. Tuition for the program totaled $42,072 over two years, part-time.

More student loans were the last thing I wanted. Maybe if I were younger or jobless I would have had less of a hesitation to take out more loans. If that were the case, I could have justified more school (and student loans) as the safe-harbor to ride out the storm of a bad economy. But, that isn't the case.

Our close friends half-jokingly refer to their student loan payment the "beach house" - because it's about the same size payment as you'd expect a beach house to have. I have a family to support - that means daycare, a mortgage, car payments. Adding a "beach house" of student loans was the last thing I wanted to do.

So I began to look for other solutions to fulfill my desire to learn and grow, but for a fraction of the price.

The more I looked the more I began to notice problems facing higher education - and the more I felt a growing need to do something about it.

Below, I've identified what I believe are three big problems facing higher education today and three possible solutions to fix them:

Problem: Education is not the focus of many universities When I was an undergrad at Florida State University, I remember seeing a t-shirt that read "We're a drinking school with a football problem."

That t-shirt captures the approach of many colleges and universities today. Universities are in the business of selling a lifestyle, prestige, and status. And they invest in things that increase their competitiveness in these areas.

According to Kevin Carey, the Director of Education Policy at the New America Foundation, major spending at universities includes infrastructure, administration, scholarships and sports teams -- but investing in classrooms and professors, which could actually impact student learning, isn't on this list. It's a sign that education is secondary to other interests.

Solution: Connect teachers directly with students through a digital marketplace Love the teacher, hate the system. So change it...

Teachers are focused on facilitating quality education - even if the universities that employ them are not.

So how do we connect teachers and students without costly university excesses? The answer is a digital marketplace where students and teachers find each other online.

The digital education marketplace does not require expensive physical infrastructure. There are no sports teams to support, no administration, no scholarships. It's just teachers and students finding each other the 21st century way - over the web.

To some extent, MOOCs have begun this process. But, MOOCs are cozy with, and in many cases part of a university. So there is reason to doubt their ability to avoid the burden of the overhead that universities will eventually lay on them.

And this education marketplace is good for teachers too. A digital marketplace that connects students and teachers directly will:

• Reward teachers financially for creating great courses
• Incentivize teachers to create innovate with new learning environments
• Attract new teachers to the field of teaching who would otherwise go elsewhere

Problem: The 4 year degree is too long and too expensive College shouldn't begin with a two-year extension of high school... But it does.

Universities refer to this as a general education requirement - a series of courses taken to develop a broad base of general knowledge outside of one's chosen major. These are often defended as a way to broaden students with skills to make them better members of society.

But here is what they really are: a cash cow - and an expensive and time consuming extension of high school. They're a way to extend the revenue stream of the university.

With the average college graduate in the class of 2011 having over $26,000 in student loans , when will we say enough is enough? When will we ditch the 4-year degree?

Solution: A virtual curriculum based on my needs as a student I believe that we must get rid of general education requirements and make them what they ought to be- optional electives.

Doing so would sharply reduce the credit hours required for a bachelors degree and, as a result, reduce the cost of college and the amount of money borrowed by students.

Once we've cut the fat from the curriculum by removing general education requirements, the remaining classes should be taken virtually through virtual classrooms. I'm talking about real, live virtual classrooms that are in many respects, as capable and dynamic as their physical counterparts. With multi-way video, video study groups, and social media integration, the virtual classroom of today and tomorrow is nothing like the virtual classroom of yesterday.

In fact, these virtual classrooms will better prepare students for the business world, where more and more business is being conducted virtually. In light of the affordability crisis today, virtual classrooms should be the norm, not the exception.

Problem: University learning is linear, one size fits all Universities have a linear learning model. You must follow a curriculum. Start at point A, end at point B. Check the boxes and get the degree.

A typical university education is linear - teacher focused, not student focused. The process of learning is a controlled by the teacher, just as the process of getting a degree is controlled by the university.

The problem is that linear learning is expensive, both in terms of money and in time. As a student, the path to a degree is set. Student choice is available, but mostly limited to electives. In the classroom, lectures are a "one-size-fits-all" approaches to learning. There is no tailoring to individual learning styles or interests.

This makes higher education more expensive than it needs to be. It's not only the cost of tuition - the cost of housing, food, and transportation for the duration of the college experience add up to compound the problems of the linear model.

Solution: Self-directed learning Students learn better when they control their experience. We can empower students by giving them choice in the classes they choose and in how they wish to learn.

Marketplaces are the epitome of self-expression. They allow for personal expression without the heavy hand of an entity who thinks it knows better.

And marketplaces are key for self-directed learning to take place. Students choose what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. With teachers competing for students, teachers will innovate and students will choose to take classes from the best teachers.

The low-cost delivery of virtual classrooms means education doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg or 20 years of debt. And teachers can make a great living teaching classes.

This open learning model puts the student at the center of education, not the university.

Together, these three solutions deliver the holy grail of education: they make education more affordable for students and more profitable for teachers.

What do you think?

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that tuition for a two-year part-time program at George Washington University Law School would total almost $85,000. Tuition for this program actually totals $42,072. We regret the error.

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Groupwork as a form of assessment: common problems and recommended solutions

• Published: 20 March 2009
• Volume 58 , pages 563–584, ( 2009 )

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• W. Martin Davies 1  

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This paper reviews some of the literature on the use of groupwork as a form of assessment in tertiary institutions. It outlines the considerable advantages of groupwork but also its systemic associated problems. In discussing the problems, the paper considers issues such as “free riding” and the “sucker effect”, issues associated with ethnic mix in groups, and the social dilemma problem—in which students face conflicting demands between altruism and self-interest. The paper then outlines several models of effective groupwork and makes suggestions for implementing groupwork tasks. The paper also looks at the key assessment tasks which are commonly employed—namely, additive, conjunctive, disjunctive and discretionary tasks—and assesses which are most suited to groupwork. The paper considers the related issues of task complexity, recognition for effort, and strategies for minimising issues concerning group size. The paper also briefly considers strategies for implementing incentives for groupwork members, and outlines the issue of penalties for unproductive group members. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for how to maximise the advantages of groupwork while trying to minimise the disadvantages.

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Appendix 1: Outline of group contract proforma

Source: Curtin Business School http://www.cbs.curtin.edu.au/files/cbsUnitsCourses/Contract%20Administration%20502.doc

Other contract proformas are available elsewhere (Anderson et al. 1996 ; Stephenson and Laycock 1993 ).

[To be altered or adopted as each group considers appropriate and with flair and imagination!].

Parties to the contract

This contract is made between the following students of [ insert unit ].

[ Insert student name, addresses, and contact details and student numbers ]

[ Student 2 ]

[ Student 3 etc ]

Course Controller and/or Tutor

This contract is made for the purpose of completing assessment (the project) in [ insert unit ] and is to be handed in to [ insert tutor/course controller as case may be ].

Objectives of contract

The objectives of the project are to [ insert here what you wish to achieve for example ;

Distinction standard project

Completion on time without extension

Project capable of publication in a journal at a later date etc. ].

The date of completion and handing in for the project is [ insert date ].

Allocation of work

The allocation of work for the project shall be [ insert description of how the group will carry out the work, the division of research, writing, editing ]

[NB. This is a significant clause in your contract - give it lots of thought. You may insert a separate clause for each issue i.e. Research, writing etc. You should avoid doing a project that simply allocates parts of the project to each student, it is preferable that all students have a role in each aspect of the project or at a minimum in the editing of the project] .

The group will meet to discuss the progress of the project on the following dates

[ Create a schedule attached to the contract of the days that you will meet ].

Where a dispute arises as to the following matters [ for example

Quality of work

Input/emergency/contribution ]

The dispute will be resolved in the following manner [ insert your dispute resolution clause —you may find that some awards, workplace agreements or contracts may be useful for this clause].

Unequal contributions

Where the group determines that the contributions of the parties have not been equal the group may

[ insert the means of resolving this problem ].

[NB: The course controller or tutor is not to be involved in the disputes in relation to workload, it

is for the members of the group to resolve these issues internally] .

Schedules of Research

Attached to this contract is a schedule of the Research techniques employed to complete the project.

[ Attach schedule ].

Self Assessment of Group

Attached to this contract is a schedule setting out the manner in which the group assessed its

progress and whether it had achieved the objectives of the project.

Any other relevant clauses or schedules .

In this clause include any other matter that you think is important for the completion of the contract

and project.

_________________________________

See Table  1 .

See Table  2 .

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Davies, W.M. Groupwork as a form of assessment: common problems and recommended solutions. High Educ 58 , 563–584 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9216-y

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Received : 11 July 2007

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Published : 20 March 2009

Issue Date : October 2009

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9216-y

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