3/26/12

College: Then and Now

College dorms through the years: A fascinating pictorial by Time magazine - go here.

Now here's an in-depth article, from the Heritage Foundation, which, among other things, notices several colleges that are using new business models with success. Those mentioned are: Western Governors University, Brigham Young University-Idaho, and Southern New Hampshire University.

What's remarkable about Western Governors University? Faculty act as personal mentors intead of impersonal instructors; the university doesn't emphasize doctoral programs and tuition is less than $6000 a year.

What's different about Brigham Young University-Idaho? There are no athletics or lengthy summer break, and the university "allows technical certifications in core courses before moving on to electives, which means that students acquire official qualifications as they advance toward a bachelor’s degree." It's also an inexpensive option.

Southern New Hampshire University's claim to fame is that its online students outnumber the traditional ones. And get this, "SNHU expects online education to bring in more than $100 million — a windfall that subsidizes the money-losing undergraduate campus." Money-losing? Must be all those transgendered bathrooms they gotta build.

What I like about the schools emphasizing online learning is that they are also boosting the e-economy by offering employment to those who prefer to teach students from the comfort of their homes and who want to bypass office politics, tiring commutes, and classroom shenanigans.

The Time dorm photo essay could stand to add a picture of an iPad-wielding student, in her jammies, learning from her bedroom.



Typical, nondescript dorm room.





Bedroom morphs into avant-garde dorm room.


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