By Monique Lucey
The rising cost of college tuition coupled with troubling economic conditions and the globalization of higher education make this a fiercely competitive landscape for students and institutions alike. As a mother of a high school sophomore and a seventh grader, the rising cost of 4-year colleges is of great concern to me as well as the increased competition at the more reasonably priced institutions as top students look to their “safety” schools to provide an affordable option.
A recent article in The New York Times reported that from 1982 to 2007, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent, while median family income rose just 147 percent. Over the past decade, student borrowing has doubled and, on average, students from lower-income families receive smaller grants from colleges than students from more affluent families.
“Last year, the net cost at a four-year public university amounted to 28 percent of the median family income, while a four-year private university cost 76 percent of the median family income,” reported the Times.
As more students apply to colleges overall, and financial issues lead more people to apply to public schools, public universities may begin to admit fewer students because of budget cuts—all this while dramatically diminishing resources may jeopardize the quality of education public universities can offer. Endowments are down. State funding has been slashed.
However, there may be a silver lining. Increased competition can be an impetus for universities to change the way they teach and students learn in order to compete with academic institutions on a global stage. Distance learning has emerged as a catalyst for some radical shifts. Higher education is becoming increasingly global, with universities in the US and overseas leveraging technologies to put education within reach of many more individuals around the world. This further increases the competitive landscape. As a result, academic institutions are leveraging the strategic value of the network to attract and retain the brightest talent as well as to attract research dollars and grants. Institutions are being driven to invest in upgrading network infrastructure that hasn’t been updated since the early 1990’s in order to increase bandwidth and shore up network security to support this wave of distance learning.
Learn how Jacksonville University is making their network ready for future applications.
What is your institution doing to compete in the new global economy? How is technology helping you to meet the challenges to do more with less? Does your network infrastructure pass the test? We want to hear from you.
