Pandemic-To-Permanent

[freeloader]

I think the whole list is dumb. People are only willing to spend money on higher education due to perceived value. If there is a perception that online education is equally valuable or superior to terrestrial education, many of these may be true. But if there is a perception that terrestrial education is superior, there still will be a marketplace for a more “conventional” education. It is also the case that millions of 17-18 year old kids want the traditional college experience and they are the consumers of the product. If their desires change, maybe these things will come to pass. I think it is probably equally or more likely that their will be a strong reaction AGAINST online education by kids who had to do a year of schooling at home and who are MORE interested in that “conventional” college experience. These are YOLO/FOMO kids we are talking about and they have missed out on a lot over the last year.

As for the diversity point: who, exactly, is going to demand these metrics be realized. Maybe the government, but I doubt it. The marketplace? Does the author really think that students will make diversity the main criteria in selecting a college? I am a liberal, I believe in affirmative action, and even I think that is idiotic. 17-18 year old KIDS will go to where they want to go to school, the school where their friends are going, the school that offers their degree program, the school that is an area/city/geographical area they like, that is highly ranked, that is near to home/far from home, that is affordable, that is easy/hard. After taking ALL of that into consideration, maybe they consider diversity. Don’t get me wrong, if there is effectively no diversity, people who identify with a particular minority might be dissuaded from attending. I could see not wanting to be a black woman at a school where 99% of students are white males. But that begs the original question, who, besides the minority students, are going to really do anything about it?