[ExI] College 2.0

[David Lubkin]

There are changes afoot in college education. We've been in an obscene
cycle for decades. Families can't afford college, so there's political
pressure to increase government assistance. As this happens, the
schools raise their tuition to sop up the new money and fix the level of
pain back where it was. While adding a deferred pain in loans the
students can never pay back through the largely useless degrees they
obtained. Some students, facing an uncomfortable workplace, go back
for more degrees and more debt. All adding to political pressure to
forgive much of this debt, which in effect furthers the burden on taxpayers
who were out working. But probably not today's taxpayers, since we'll
just increase the federal debt even further.

Meanwhile, in other industries, costs plummet, in ripples from Moore's
Law. And more and more efforts to give you stuff for free, often in
exchange for ads you ignore or block, or data sold off about you.

With college tuition priced to compete with what you pay for your
recreational activities, there's great potential. I never stopped after
graduate school. I just kept on buying books and learning, and still do,
decades later. But I don't pay tuition, buy exorbitant textbooks, listen to
dull lectures, learn lockstep to the class, or jump through professors'
and school administrative hoops.

At the prices discussed in this article, my interest is perked. Maybe
I'll get another degree or forty. Now, I'm an outlier. But how many
people would take a class or two, finish their degree, or get a master's
if it cost no more than a cable tv package?

My guess is this is, at least, a billion-dollar market. That will ultimately
result in the dramatic reformation of the existing model of higher
education. The on-campus experience will survive, but largely priced
at a point a student could afford with a part-time job with no need of
grants or loans.

<http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-12-10/finance/35714989_1_college-tuition-nonprofit-colleges-public-colleges>


-- David.