Think LEGO Towers, Not Ivory: How We Can Rebuild Trust in Higher Ed

For Gen Z, the ivory tower of higher education is crumbling fast.

In its recent report on America’s Most Trusted Universities , Morning Consult found that public faith in higher ed diminished with each new generation. Only 41% of Gen Z said they trusted colleges and universities compared to 49% of millennials, 52% of Gen Xers, and 55% of baby boomers.

Add to this outlook another 4.1% decline in college enrollments for 2022, and it’s clear we’re in crisis. The disconnect between what postsecondary institutions hold sacred—and what people are feeling as they come of college age—has become a gaping chasm.

But this erosion of trust should come as no surprise.

It can be traced to four major issues with traditional higher education:

1. It’s hard to access. Getting into college is a near herculean feat. Finding the right match. The time-consuming applications. The standardized tests. The nail-biting admissions decision process. Before even starting college, learners are under immense stress!?
2. It’s unaffordable. Tuition costs keep ratcheting up. So do interest rates and student debt . Add upfront deposits, room and board, textbooks, supplies, and other expenses, and college falls outside the realm of possibility for many learners. Even though the U.S. government’s new student debt forgiveness plan is a step in the right direction, it’s relief—not reform.?
3. It’s not flexible. One size fits all is the norm—a typical bachelor’s degree requires attending full-time on-campus for four years. Learners who leave early are called dropouts and have nothing to show for their time. Juggling classes while also working to pay for college is also a challenge. No wonder more than 39 million Americans have some college credit but no degree.
4. Its ROI is increasingly up for debate. Driven by pandemic instability, shifting work/life balance, and technology’s rapid pace, the next generation of learners is questioning whether a four-year degree still equates to better opportunity and a better economic outlook—and whether college is worth it at all. The majority of learning in college remains academic, but to be job-ready in the face of so much technological change today requires increasingly applied skills.

So, what can we do to rebuild people’s faith in college? Let’s start by ending this notion that higher education is this grand ivory tower in the sky, where academic pursuits are separate from everyday life.

Instead, let’s give learners LEGO-like building blocks to empower them to erect their own towers to success. I’m talking about incremental, easy-to-access, career-relevant learning that forges direct links between education and work—and that puts learners’ needs front and center.

While standard learning packages like bachelor’s and master’s degrees are valuable for many learners, others would benefit from more nontraditional pathways to reach their goals. One innovative approach to meeting diverse learners’ needs is to break down degrees into modular and stackable LEGO-like parts, each providing more flexibility and their own credentials and skills outcomes. On the edX platform, these microcredential offerings range from MicroBachelors? and MicroMasters? programs to professional certificates and tech boot camps .

Here’s where modular, stackable online learning can solve some of traditional higher ed’s core challenges:

1. It’s more accessible with one-click enrollment. Learners can get started on accessing high-quality content right away—no application, prerequisites, or SAT required. Jumping into a course is easy and learning’s ready for the taking, just like the air we breathe. Higher education has been a privilege of the few, but shouldn’t all education be a human right??
2. It’s more affordable with disruptively priced options. For a fraction of the price of a full degree, learners can quickly acquire new skills toward launching or advancing their career. On edX, the full range of microcredentials is low-cost without sacrificing quality. And with MicroBachelors and MicroMasters, credit can be applied toward a full degree, which lowers the cost of the full degree and further maximizes learners’ investment. edX is also working with universities to drive down tuition costs for their full degree programs. For example, UT Austin’s online master’s degrees in Computer Science and Data Science are each accessibly priced at $10,000.
3. It’s more flexible with anytime, anywhere learning. The pandemic taught us quality education can be delivered online, and now a third of college students say they’d prefer learning this way all the time. On edX, they can earn everything from a professional certificate to college credit to a full degree completely online, and from a wide range of colleges and universities. And they can do it day or night, at their own pace, wherever they are in the world.
4. It’s proven to lead to better ROI. Just three examples: For online graduate degree programs powered by 2U—edX’s parent company—Gallup found 97% of alumni surveyed for its 2020 report achieved a positive career outcome after completing a program. Gallup also found all boot camp graduates surveyed for its 2021 report saw their salaries increase by a median of $11K one year after graduation. And edX learner surveys found that 92% of MicroMasters learners one year after completion said their investment was worth it.

It’s Time to Redefine Higher Ed—Together

Higher education has an image problem. In a world where convenience, personalization, and on-demand reign supreme, people want right-size, right-time online learning experiences that translate to skills they can immediately apply toward clearer outcomes.?

By integrating more modular, stackable, career-optimized programs into their offerings, universities can prove to current and future generations that we have their needs top of mind. I believe in the power of education to unlock human potential, but how we perceive and activate education needs to adapt as the world evolves. We need to rethink, reimagine, and redefine what’s possible in higher education together—to give everyone as many pathways as possible to achieve the success that’s right for them.

Now I’m curious to hear your take in the comments: What’s one action you think universities can take to rebuild trust in higher ed?