Mark Cuban: Is your college going out of business?

[Muskie]

Link (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130126183946-212158738-is-your-college-going-out-of-business)

Interesting piece. Thoughts?

[xudash]

Link (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130126183946-212158738-is-your-college-going-out-of-business)

Interesting piece. Thoughts?

Think of the prospective student population as a pie chart. What percentage of the population will take Cuban's advice, based on their specific economic situations? There are some number of students who already do the junior college thing, hoping to transfer to Flagship State U. after a year or two. He makes some valid point, though the profanity at the end of the article wasn't appropriate.

Online is growing and will continue to grow, but I don't know enough about it to opine on it's ability to educate effectively from both ends: the University pushing effective lectures/lesson plans out and the students being honest in pushing exams/work back.

Overall, I believe there will always be a reasonably large chunk of kids who want the four year experience. They'll continue to want that for the education, the friends and networking, the sports and other extra-curricular opportunities, etc.

I believe Xavier will continue to be well positioned, because it provides a very good "product" and it has brought its campus to a point where it makes a statement. It probably only has Alter Hall with which to deal as its last major on-campus project. Otherwise, the leadership was very sharp in putting together the structure that exists for developing Danamon - more "campus", but on someone else's investment capital. One effect for Xavier may be a growth in students from the eastern seaboard, as sticker shock out there makes even Xavier's tuition appear reasonable.

[LA Muskie]

FWIIW: About a year ago, Chadwick told a group of us that Xavier's biggest competition will ultimately be online education and that once it is accepted on par in the business world it will be a 4-year college killer. The point was that 4-year universities must adapt, and that Xavier is well positioned because its mission and values are things that transcend the ability to otherwise learn online.

[Cheesehead]

I sorta had this dicussion w/a friend of mine whose kids are at UD & are taking on some serious debt. I said if I could tell some to choose between UC and XU or UD, then I would recommend the UC route because one will wind up w/ less debt and the degree in many cases, will mean the same thing to a prospective employer. I told my friend it kills me to say this, as I loved my time at XU but I cannot justify the costs anymore. Why not pick the cheaper route if if leads one to same end result?

[DC Muskie]

When you have major universities offering classes online for free, kids can and will piece their education together.

I look forward to someone writing about how our society is incapable of interacting, simply because the internet machine allows us to learn, have "friends" and express our every thought for the entire world to see.

[Muskie]

An issue that most seem to be missing (at least I haven't seen it around much), is that every one is now being hyper-educated. You have people working minimum wage jobs that may have an associate's degree from Ivy Tech or maybe a Bachelor's from some internet school. Does that automatically raise the bar on job applicants for those jobs? If it does, it means others have to hyper-educate themselves as well. We're raising the bar (expense) to even the most basic of jobs for rates of pay that will not sustain or repay the amount of money to get the education level required.

[DC Muskie]

An issue that most seem to be missing (at least I haven't seen it around much), is that every one is now being hyper-educated. You have people working minimum wage jobs that may have an associate's degree from Ivy Tech or maybe a Bachelor's from some internet school. Does that automatically raise the bar on job applicants for those jobs? If it does, it means others have to hyper-educate themselves as well. We're raising the bar (expense) to even the most basic of jobs for rates of pay that will not sustain or repay the amount of money to get the education level required.

This is exactly why I have yet to pull the trigger on grad school. I'd love to go, but I seriously doubt I would ever recoup the investment with higher pay raises that I will get anyway.

[Masterofreality]

When you have major universities offering classes online for free, kids can and will piece their education together.

I look forward to someone writing about how our society is incapable of interacting, simply because the internet machine allows us to learn, have "friends" and express our every thought for the entire world to see.

Trust me, it's already happening.

I can always tell the age of the person that I'm communicating with. If they call me, or I call them and they answer, they have to be over 40. If they don't answer or only contact, respond via e-mail or text, they've gotta be under 35.

If schools are only gong to be about books with no science or exchange of ideas required, the bricks and mortar are soon to be gone. If they are about lively debate, development of quick witted minds and things such as hands on science labs and research that cannot be simulated online, then they will be fine.

We'll see what type of person businesses want. I'll tell you that I would never hire someone who is limited in verbal skills or is a lazy communicator though.

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

If schools are only gong to be about books with no science or exchange of ideas required, the bricks and mortar are soon to be gone. If they are about lively debate, development of quick witted minds and things such as hands on science labs and research that cannot be simulated online, then they will be fine.



And beer.

But you're right MOR. And it goes beyond business. Anybody tried to get ahold of your 18-24 year old kids lately?

[chico]

I'll tell you that I would never hire someone who is limited in verbal skills or is a lazy communicator though.

I want too work 4 u. I write good and not lazy atoll.

Seriously, I can easily see a shift to online classes for the more basic courses, but there will always be a need for brick and mortar schools for more specialized degrees, or where you need something like a lab. But the price has to come down. I've talked about this with my wife and the route we'll recommend for our kids is the community college route for the basics and college with more of a focus on what they really want to do. No 7-year plan to "find themselves" if we're footing the bill. Of course, with a bunch of girls, I am the greatest proponent of Title IX.

What's amazing is that you can educate yourself online for free - check out this site. (https://www.coursera.org) All the courses are free and taught at a lot of major institutions.

[xudash]

Trust me, it's already happening.

I can always tell the age of the person that I'm communicating with. If they call me, or I call them and they answer, they have to be over 40. If they don't answer or only contact, respond via e-mail or text, they've gotta be under 35.

If schools are only gong to be about books with no science or exchange of ideas required, the bricks and mortar are soon to be gone. If they are about lively debate, development of quick witted minds and things such as hands on science labs and research that cannot be simulated online, then they will be fine.

We'll see what type of person businesses want. I'll tell you that I would never hire someone who is limited in verbal skills or is a lazy communicator though.

This makes me wonder about the small, liberal arts schools, such as Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, and Kenyon. I picked those off the top of my head, not knowing how well positioned they are in disciplines such as business. The days of the English Lit major at a scenic campus with 2,400 of your closest friends, with everyone paying $40k+ for the experience may be getting close to being over.

[danaandvictory]

This makes me wonder about the small, liberal arts schools, such as Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, and Kenyon. I picked those off the top of my head, not knowing how well positioned they are in disciplines such as business. The days of the English Lit major at a scenic campus with 2,400 of your closest friends, with everyone paying $40k+ for the experience may be getting close to being over.

I've always wondered how many students at Kenyon and Oberlin actually pay full boat. I figured they soaked the East Coast prep school kids and gave everyone else massive help, but who knows.

[bobbiemcgee]

Send them here:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/27/us/bloomberg-johns-hopkins-gift/index.html

[Mel Cooley XU'81]

I've always wondered how many students at Kenyon and Oberlin actually pay full boat. I figured they soaked the East Coast prep school kids and gave everyone else massive help, but who knows.

Not many. Two college-age Cooleys received generous financial aid packages based upon: 1) Intelligence they inherited from their mother 2) College prep educations from an excellent Catholic high school and 3) financial aid from two ridicuously well-endowed universities.

With two to go, here's hoping that's a trend.

And the amount of cash colleges are sitting on is astounding.

And probably scandalous.

[Masterofreality]

Not many. Two college-age Cooleys received generous financial aid packages based upon: 1) Intelligence they inherited from their mother 2) College prep educations from an excellent Catholic high school and 3) financial aid from two ridicuously well-endowed universities.

With two to go, here's hoping that's a trend.

And the amount of cash colleges are sitting on is astounding.

And probably scandalous.

Good luck with those tuitions, brother. Glad I'm done. Now I'm paying for weddings!