Realities of Resourcing College for All

How much can one trust an education enterprise that failed to produce adequate STEM graduates for the past 20 years and now erects placards reminding students science is real?

Introduction

Student loan debt relief has been a national level hot topic for the past year.[i]  The latest initiative is pushing to fund college tuition at state schools for those students whose families earn less than $125,000. The proposition is for the federal and state governments to work together to make it happen.[ii] While many will want to debate whether the US government, aka taxpayers, should provide free tuition, that’s not the purpose here. Before taking any position, I’d like to know what the big plan is to synchronize the enterprise and how to fund it. 

Background

I’m a product of the New Jersey public school system of the 70s and 80s. Back in the day, more than one of my science teachers advised me that one report does not a scientific conclusion make. Likewise, a string of incidents and anecdotes doesn’t warrant a steadfast conclusion so let’s consider this a snapshot perspective.

The American taxpayer funded my primary and secondary school public education and most of my undergraduate and graduate education. The ‘free’ undergraduate education at the United States Military Academy provided me a Bachelor of Science degree and a job with a five-year obligation to serve. When America won the cold war, Uncle Sam waived the last two years of the commitment. Yet, I stayed.

In the late nineties, I earned a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management by paying for one third of the credits. The US Army paid for the other two thirds and required me to work for the Army for another two years.  I picked up my second Master’s degree – Strategic Studies – through the Army War College distance education program.  This was a fantastic educational experience that warranted another two-year obligation.

Essentially, the US Government, while acting as my employer, educated me with a Bachelor’s and two Master’s at minimal fiscal cost to myself. I can tell you, though, “ain’t nuthin’ about it was free” to the recipient. The first opportunity required the utmost commitment to finish and the two Master’s were earned after work hours.

Interaction with education as an educator

From 2008 to 2012, I served at the Joint Forces Staff College as a faculty member and school director, educating fellow military members and government employees. Immediately, I was immersed in and embraced the culture of a lifetime of learning. To this end, the college had a terrific teaming initiative with the local higher institutions. Thus, I had the privilege of attending seminars with the Tidewater Education Consortium where I was exposed to a few nuggets of worthwhile perspective:

• Most college professors don’t receive formal training on teaching functions like testing. Hence, the primary purpose of the consortium.
• Studies comparing current curriculum to curriculum over one hundred years ago showed that older curriculum were far more math and English intensive - a partial prediction of the impending STEM dilemma.
• The US has a glut of bachelor’s degree producing education institutions. In other words, there are far more graduates than job positions to fill.

Couple that last bullet with the video called “1:2:7 Success in a New Economy” that I later viewed during a Chamber of Commerce meeting with local educators. (I urge parents and students to watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs6nQpVI164 ). The 2015 video revealed some inconvenient truths:

• The philosophy was flawed that businesses would want to hire more college graduates if they were available. The available positions and turnover rate didn’t allow space for graduates to fill.
• Nearly 2/3 of high school graduates attend a four-year college and only a 1/4 finish.
• Only 1/3 of the labor force requires a four-year college degree and many majors don’t have a correlating career.
• College for all is an over reach and should be rescaled.

During one of my Army War College interactions, I met a Penn State University (PSU) school director who lamented over the institution’s hiring practices. PSU elevated a Chinese national professor to be a school director. Over time, the director replaced the faculty with other Chinese national professors. PSU had to break up the nepotism and would close its Confucius Institute.[iii] A half dozen years later, the greater public became aware of the malignant Chinese influence at US universities.[iv]  

After I left the military, I applied for at least three university positions and worked for two semesters as a substitute teacher, including special needs, in the Pennsylvania public school system trying to find my educational calling.  During my substitute teaching, I witnessed some unfortunate realities. Many rural Pennsylvania towns are dying and lack the resources compared to what occurs elsewhere in the state. Primary and secondary public education are not equitable at the state nor national level.[v]

Unfortunate Coalescence

In between my discussion with the PSU rep and the 2020 report on Confucius Institutes, I had a mentoring discussion with a relative who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from a public university. The relative had been lamenting on social media over huge college debt and a poor paying job. The job conditions were bleak, and the customers didn’t appreciate the service.  The employees deserved a living wage. 

I inquired about the relative’s major. It was a niche arts degree with little job market applicability. I offered to make some connections in media and I also recommended the relative attend church for life direction and the possibility of meeting others in the community.  Business owners attending church might be looking for responsible people. My relative quipped, “I guess there are more ways to be involved with community than what I learned in the social revolution course.”

This begged the cold, hard questions.

When that public university took your tens of thousands of dollars while enticing you to build your own major, did it ever tell you that your major doesn’t have a job market with enough demand? 

When that institution took you and your classmates’ money, did it tell you that, at best, the job market might only sustain one of two graduates finding a position?

The faceless higher education enterprise knew.  Now, advocates want the US taxpayer to pay tuition for anybody who wants to attend college. Never mind, there still aren’t enough jobs for all of the would be graduates. The universities are assured business.

Brilliant.

Back off the cliff and make a plan

Okay. Perhaps this is a bit harsh and the anecdotes don’t always add up to a terrible conspiracy. Surely, there are responsible institutions who informed the students of the realities of their decisions and do their best to manage costs. For instance, a colleague at Purdue assures me the university has been quite successful in reigning costs and maintaining reasonable tuition fees.

So, what is the big plan and how do you pay for it? Here are a few ideas.

Some European countries test students before they enter ninth grade. Then, the students are placed in either college prep high school or trade prep high school. This might not sit well with US parents who aren’t prepared for the possibility that junior might not pass the college prep test in 8th grade. Such a test would also have to account for the disparities in secondary education in rural and inner-city districts.  Or, America might not be the land of opportunity anymore. 

Over the past thirty years, I’ve frequently heard younger Americans lament that they shouldn’t have to join the military to get an education. That is what makes it service. The US has a projected half million job deficit in cyber security. So, tie the post-secondary education commitment to a skill the nation needs.

For instance, the Success in a New Economy video recommends associate degrees and certificates for all instead of a four-year degree.[vi] A graduating high school student could go to a local community college to earn a one-year IT or cyber security certification. If the student proves able and wants to keep learning, compete for a second year to complete the Associates degree. Again, if the student proves able and wants to keep learning, the student can compete for a limited number of scholarships or fund the last two years herself. 

In economic terms, though, when a business vertical has too many factories, contraction is a must unless something intervenes to keep them fiscally propped. The public should demand public universities inform the taxpayers what the institutions are doing to manage costs. A more fiscal hawkish recommendation requires state funded four-year institutions to contract and mortgage off building and property or have the government tax the multi-million-dollar endowments to relieve current and future student debt. 

Lastly, taxpayers should insist for greater transparency and accountability of publicly funded student and institutions.  Students who don’t maintain a certain grade point average are defunded. Learning institutions should attempt to produce well-rounded, intellectually and emotionally resilient graduates exposed to academic freedom and steeped in critical thinking. This is more than having the visiting professors from the Confucius Institute teach students how to wage social revolution and occupy Wall Street while walking out on anyone with a diverging view.

Conclusion

The US has the fifth highest expenses per capita for primary and secondary education and the highest for post-secondary education (see below figures).[vii] In 2000, we had “No Child Left Behind. By 2006, it was declared a failure. Then, we had Common Core. It too has been declared a failure as teachers disavow the amount of time spent on mandatory testing compared to teaching.[viii]

The United States government habitually throws money at the problem and declares victory, but the public primary and secondary education programs have been inconsistent. We can’t afford to make similar mistakes in aligning, purposing, and resourcing public post-secondary education.  US leaders need to develop and communicate a strategic concept or plan for how post-secondary students and education are transparent and accountable before giving away taxpayer money out of misplaced altruism.

[i] https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/11/17/935743741/biden-wants-to-help-pay-some-student-loans-but-theres-pressure-to-go-further

[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2020/09/04/the-surprising-cost-of-bidens-free-college-tuition-plan/?sh=23e23e106f7f

[iii] https://www.wsj.com/articles/penn-state-latest-school-to-drop-chinas-confucius-institute-1412196655

[iv] https://freebeacon.com/campus/top-universities-take-millions-from-china-front-group/

[v] https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/01/11/577000301/americas-schools-are-profoundly-unequal-says-u-s-civil-rights-commission

[vi] “1:2:7 Success in a New Economy”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs6nQpVI164

[vii] https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

[viii] My firsthand witness as a substitute teacher in training speaking with other permanent teachers.