The parents of today's traditional-age first-year students are demanding attention to the ROI generated by their investments in a college education for their sons and daughters. They have their eyes not only on the now diminishing gap between the earning power of a high school diploma and that of a college degree, but on the way that colleges are spending their resources while relentlessly increasing tuition. The excerpt below makes the point.
The High Cost of College: an Increasingly Hard Sell
By William Strauss and Neil Howe, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2005
When we have raised the issue, we have found that, far more than boomers, Gen Xers are likely to recall college in hindsight as a waste of time and money. Their recollection of their own college years has morphed into a profound skepticism bordering on cynicism, a demand for standards and accountability, and a keen interest in the bottom line. Considering what they have done as school parents, it's not hard to predict how they will behave as college parents. This get-real generation will focus on standards, transparency, measurable results, accountability, and (especially) cost. They will ask, perhaps very pointedly, whether courses and the professors who teach them are worth the money. After carefully checking out the college dorms, food, gyms, and career-counseling services, they will ask about "ROI" (return on investment). Some will wonder whether class discussions focusing on issues of the 60s and 70s, still so intriguing to many boomer professors, teach anything their kids need in the workplace. Many will ask why, in recent decades, whatever the economic climate, higher education has relentlessly risen in cost relative to inflation. At colleges with large endowments, many will ask why, especially in those years that endowments have grown significantly, keeping tuition low hasn't been given a high priority in the use of endowment funds. Many will ask whether student loans are, in fact, "financial aid" or rather just an inducement to enroll — much as car loans are not "car aid" but a mere inducement to buy a car. Chronicle subscribers can read more ...
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