Why the College Campus Experience Still Matters
Jeff Selingo
Bestselling author | Strategic advisor on future of learning and work | College admissions and early career expert | Contributor, The Atlantic | Angel investor | Editor, Next newsletter | Co-host, FutureU podcast
Talk about the future of higher education often reminds me of The Jetsons, the 1960’s era cartoon that imagined a tomorrow of flying cars, homes hovering in space, robot maids, and holograms. College will certainly be different in 20 years, but my belief after spending a year and half researching a book about the future of higher education is that the Hollywood vision of college—four years on a residential campus—will still exist in thousands of places around the country.
Sure, online education and alternative ways of obtaining credentials will play a bigger role for students in the future, but there remains a critical role for colleges as we know them today.
Just look at the life of Michael Bloomberg. As described in a story earlier this week in The New York Times, Bloomberg was "a middling high school student from Medford, Mass., who had settled for C’s and had confined his ambitions to the math club" when he arrived at Johns Hopkins University in the early 1960s. By the time he left, “he was a social and political star” that set him on the path to eventually start the company that bears his name and made him a billionaire.
In The Times article, Bloomberg, now the mayor of New York City, talked about his love for Hopkins in very personal terms. “I just thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” he said. This week, Bloomberg donated $350 million to his alma mater, bringing the total amount of his donations to $1.1 billion.
Bloomberg’s story exemplifies the power of a residential college experience for 18-year-olds and what happens when an elite college like Hopkins takes a chance on an applicant. While I don’t believe that top colleges take chances on students like they once did because of their desire to constantly admit a better class, the transformative power of college still exists today for those able to find the right fit and afford ever increasing tuition prices.
Here’s what a campus can do better than the alternatives, at least for now:
A maturing experience
Let’s face it, most 18-year-old’s are not ready for the working world, and some are not even ready for a college campus. The four years of college turn adolescents into young adults and through the campus experience—living with different people, participating in activities and athletics, and being responsible for one’s self—gets them ready for life.
Access to mentors
Most of us who went to residential colleges can name a professor or two or other advisers who played a role in shaping our life and perhaps still do to this day. While mentors exist in online classes, the face-to-face interactions on residential campuses are invaluable to the maturing process. Of course, to save money, many colleges are replacing full-time faculty with adjuncts who often don’t have the time to make those personal connections.
Experiential learning
We know from research that students learn more and retain more when they apply what they hear in the classroom through experiences in real life. Not all colleges provide easy access to these experiences, but for those that do, students have the ability to volunteer in the community, work along scholars to do research, and study abroad.
Networking
We don't just remember the professors from college who had an impact on our life, but the friends who were there with us during those formative years. Those networks shape lives in so many ways, from romantic relationships to jobs to new companies (h/t to Michael Stoner for reminding me of this). Mark Zuckerberg might have dropped out of Harvard, but if you saw The Social Network you might recall that Facebook would never have been if not for the Harvard residential experience while he was there.
Of course, this campus experience shouldn’t just be reserved for the children of Michael Bloomberg. But the fact of the matter is that at the country’s 200 colleges that are most difficult to get into, only 15 percent of entering students in 2010 came from families with incomes under $65,000. Nearly 70 percent came from families with incomes above $108,000. At this rate, we're on the road to creating a two-tiered higher-education system that will ensure we don't help foster the next generation of students like Michael Bloomberg.
Jeffrey Selingo is editor at large at The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of the forthcoming book, College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students, scheduled for release on May 7.
Senior Financial Aid Advisor, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
10 年Doing research and fell on this article so I realize I'm late to the game. Couldn't agree less - here's why: College isn't the only place where we define ourselves as adults and make connections. AND since I've worked at Columbia, I can tell you that if you're part of the cash-pay crowd, you're golden to meet "the right connections" as a resident student. But this would happen no matter where you go if you are financially or intellectually elite. But if you're the rank and file you will connect with...the rank and file. So, you're on your own anyway. Based on that, online education may be a pretty good option BECAUSE you achieve your educational goals, meet people from all over the world and continue to meet and network with people in your own backyard. WOW. That sounds like a great combination to me. Further, I would like to explain why I feel so positive about online education. I completed my Master's as a single mother, working full-time. I met people from all over the world and continue to go to FB to network with them. Honestly, I go to FB for that reason only (to network) and have gotten some great ideas, referrals and leads. When I was a young woman, who attended college as a traditional and residential student, I didn't know how to network to save my a** and struggled hard to get my first gig in higher ed all through my own tenacity. However now, I have utilized my digital education to my advantage and it's worked. Brick and mortar is great and has it's place for some majors and for some people. But with regard to the idea that it has the most magic to empower a young person to become mature and is the best way for them to network is just dated thinking. If you're all attending the same college, you're meeting people that are basically the same as you or close to it - how is that gonna make you better, different, etc? Have you ever spoken to people that DON'T go to college at all? Us college people all look the same to them! And unless you break out of your little society, you are... If I could go back in time, and still wanted to go to college at all, I would change my undergrad experience to one that included moving farther away, taking a full-time job in another community and completing my education while meeting different people in different circumstances. Now THAT's networking.
Quality Assurance New Development
11 年Campus truly transforms you into a completely different person through its academic curriculum as well as through your circle of friends & mentors. The conclusion of article strikes the chord with an unwanted truth in educational system!
Family Man, Servant, Entrepreneur and Educator
11 年As I read your article, I reflected back on my 5 1/2 year undergraduate experience. I appreciate the invaluable (out of class) lessons that I learned via the “traditional” college experience (responsibility, cooking, diversity, conflict resolution, time management, networking, frat life, partying, dating, money management (thanks to multiple credit card offers, cell phones and other “free” giveaways) and how to maneuver through the “game” of college/life). This, coupled with my degree gave me a deep appreciation for my college experience. In fact, until recently I would have argued strongly in favor of the traditional college experience. However, now that I teach at a local college, my allegiance has swung to the middle. Although I see value in the traditional experience, I am encountering more and more students (18-22 yr olds specifically) that do not have the luxury of being a traditional student. Today’s typical student has more responsibility to go along with a much shorter attention span. As an instructor who teaches both traditional and online courses, I respect the pros and cons of each. The traditional college experience will offer more intangible learning benefits. However, if one is more concerned about getting in and out so that they can attend to additional responsibilities (and save money), the online route is more appropriate. Both will provide opportunities for success! So we can debate back and forth regarding which experience is best. However, the true answer is not of the cookie cutter variety. It will continually be based on the individual student’s situation (finances, time and other obligations).
College Admissions and Financial aid advisor at Alexander Hamilton Scholars
11 年The lessons learned from the response by Vassar students to a threatened protest from the Westboro Baptist Church at Vassar is a great example of what students stand to learn from experiences on a college campus that an online experience can't teach. In reaction to the threatened protest from the anti-gay WBC, students at Vassar set out to raise $100 for each of the 45 minutes of the WBC scheduled to protest. At this point just several days later, Vassar students have raised more than 10x that amount for crises and suicide intervention for LBGT students. What a lesson in activism, leadership and community.