Thursday, April 16, 2020

Will the Coronavirus pop the Higher Education bubble?

Early in our blog we often talked about a possible seismic change in higher education.  This was heavily driven by the fact that the cost of higher education has been climbing twice as fast as inflation, for decades.  This can not continue forever.  As Instapundit often points out: something that can't go on forever, won't.

In a 2009 post I started with:

"I have blogged in the past about the problem of rising cost of a college education. In a nut shell the cost of college education has climbed twice as fast as inflation for decades. It has gotten to the point that a college education is not an economic benefit for many."

Today Instapundit had a link to an article by Michael Barone titled Colleges and universities threatened by COVID-19.  The article explores some of the ramifications on colleges as students spend more and more time away from their classes.

Near the end of the article Michael Barone shares a line from Heather Mac Donald had written in City Journal:

"Students and their parents may start to ask why they should pay astronomical fees for a campus experience if they can get the same instruction over the web."

I think there is a good chance that this year will be the turning point where more and more families push for cheaper alternatives to getting higher education.

No comments: