After a decade of unbundling higher education, disrupters believe it’s time to repackage college education and career preparation into programs that maximize students’ return on the time and money they invest in college.
In the face of prospective students and families questioning the value of a traditional college education, a group of mission-oriented, nontraditional higher education leaders met to discuss the issue at a SXSW EDU session recently. Half of Gen-Zers believe they can be successful without a four-year degree but 85% still think it’s necessary. What students really want to know is whether a traditional degree will lead them to the job they want or if they should look for alternate pathways.
Representatives from Jobs for the Future, Outlier.org, ECMC Group, and the Minerva Project led the conversation focused on solutions that make sense for today’s 21st century students as opposed to the 19th century traditional lecture model of higher education, which they feel no longer serves students. Primarily nonprofits, these organizations are developing innovative pathways to academic degrees and certifications that feature engaging online learning, rigorous curriculum, higher education institutions, and career partners.
Challenges for Traditional Colleges and Universities
“Unsurprisingly, cost is the largest issue for prospective students who anticipate graduating with significant debt,” said Laura Telander Graf of the ECMC Group. Gen-Z students see what student debt has done to their family members and question the ROI of a degree. “The absurd 200% increase in college costs relative to inflation is not a good economic argument,” said Anjuli Gupta of Outlier. “Creating new offerings that have a tangible relationship with ROI and learning outcomes— employability, better jobs at a better cost, more efficiency—is a real thing.”
Creating a more fluid system that allows learning to not be constrained to a single track is another idea. “We have created such a rigid system that doesn’t allow us to move in and out in any meaningful way, said Rusty Greiff of Jobs for the Future. “And that’s a serious problem, particularly for Black and Latinx workers; the data proves that out.” One question centers on how to assign an educational value to work experience. “We need to determine how that can be related to learning or credits by an institution that actually values and accredits that in a meaningful way for graduation,” he said.
One of the questions that Minerva Project considers is whether they are teaching students how to learn. “Every program we create starts with the learning outcomes. Students who complete Minerva designed projects understand how they have learned and can apply that learning across disciplines and different contexts, said Geoff Watson. “That’s the kind of agility that is not being imparted through the education system right now.
Critical thinking and problem solving are the top skills employers are looking for now and whether students learn these skills must be part of the ROI conversation. Online learning can bring down the cost of education, but it also must be a meaningful learning experience and not just a video version of the lecture model. “Even though teachers adapted during the pandemic, they basically moved their in-person lecture class online. In general, it failed as a learning experience, although a small group of students thrived with this model,” said Greiff. “There is a lot of promise in online learning, but we can’t leave behind the learning.”
Takeaways:
- Sustainable higher ed requires a better cost-to-value for students. There are multiple paths to this, including creative financing, such as income-sharing agreements.
- There are innovative disruptors in higher ed that can work with institutions to create more meaningful learning experiences online.
- Traditional institutions need to invest in professional learning for faculty so they can learn how to make online courses impactful and engaging learning experiences.
- Institutions should consider how to create an integrated model of learning and work.
- Traditional institutions must shift from their old business model to a new one that sustains the institution while preparing students to participate in a global economy.
Participating Organizations
Jobs for the Future (JFF) is a nonprofit innovation platform that wants to drive systemwide transformation of the workforce and education sectors and drive down the cost of higher education. JFF works with a national network of universities and employers to drive scale. They influence thought leadership, research, and insights about what is working and share it with partners and collaborators.
Outlier’s mission is to increase access to quality college education and dramatically reduce student debt. Outlier offers university-level online courses at a fraction of the cost of what’s currently available. Their founder and CEO, Aaron Rasmussen, co-founded MasterClass and the Outlier courses are just as cinematic as those videos. With handpicked instructors, the Outlier courses are immersive, engaging, and feature cutting-edge evidence-based teaching techniques.
The Minnerva Project built an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum based on active learning and the application of durable skills. They created a blueprint which they are now sharing with colleges and universities to stimulate change in other institutions.
ECMC Group is a family of companies that provide financial tools and services, career education and funding for innovative programs to help students achieve their academic and professional goals.