Coronavirus exposes unnecessary, inflated costs of higher education

Colleges and universities across the nation have closed their doors, sent students home and transitioned to online classes during the coronavirus public health emergency. The adjustment was swift and relatively smooth, exposing an uncomfortable reality for the higher education business: Students can continue to get an education without lazy river waterparks, vegan culinary options, or “sex week” events that have become the “college experience.”

Higher education’s response to the coronavirus has exposed the fact that the system needs to be reformed and refocused to serve its original purpose: educating. As students and their parents adjust to learning online, they no doubt will question why they are paying $30,000 to $70,000 for their degrees. The answer is obvious, and the solution is simple. No, it isn’t forgiving the student loans and making college free, it’s cutting the fat and starving the beast.

As we’ve covered extensively at Campus Reform, universities are charging students exorbitant rates to subsidize events, amenities and services that do little to advance their educations, such as “diversity officers” and their $175,088 median salaries, or $10 million multicultural centers. 

While the next generation is often criticized for its victimhood mentality, in this case, these young adults are, in fact, the victims of a broken system. In a modern economy where a college degree is a prerequisite for many jobs, students are left with little choice when it comes to signing up for decades of student loan payments just to have a shot at getting a job interview.

The way higher education has quickly transitioned to online learning may serve as a catalyst for making the necessary changes to bring the cost of a higher degree down by trimming the unnecessary line items and getting back to the goal: educating. That means hiring fewer non-academic administrators, building fewer amusement park-like attractions, and making sure the biology students working towards med school aren’t forced to first take courses such as “feminist history” and “angry white male studies.” There’s a reason tuition rates have gone up 163 percent since 1988, and it’s not that the cost of educating has increased. It’s the result of bloated university budgets.

In the coming months, hundreds of thousands of loan-strapped students will be introduced to online education for the first time. Many will wonder why they didn’t meet sooner. Gen Z and millennials have been ready for remote learning and working for years — in fact, they prefer it. They are tech natives fully accustomed to online communication. In a recent poll, 72 percent of college students said they’d prefer a job working remotely as opposed to going into the office.

The coronavirus could spark the change we need to bring down the cost of higher education. People are opening their eyes to the unnecessary extras and we’re already seeing students demand that their universities cancel student fees and other tuition costs. This new view of tuition bills could spur demand and subsequent supply for more affordable, online options as alternatives to traditional four-year, on-campus programs. As we all should have learned in Econ 101, choice drives prices down.

I’m not arguing to do away with college campuses and classroom learning — there are plenty of benefits to the traditional college experience. But students deserve more options when it comes to higher education, and they deserve to get an education at a reasonable cost.

The impact of coronavirus will certainly remain long after the epidemic passes. Our rattled nation will transition to addressing lessons learned and making changes. I believe we can come out stronger and better, and reforming our broken higher education system can be a silver lining.

Cabot Phillips is editor-in-chief for CampusReform.org. Follow him on Twitter @cabot_phillips.