Higher education in America is in crisis.
State universities are facing harsh economic challenges, and several small colleges here in Ohio have recently closed. Ohio lawmakers are looking to remake higher education to make it better reflect the state’s conservative majority, and the incoming Trump administration has promised to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. All of that, in addition to declining enrollment rates and deep deficits have created a ‘perfect storm’ for higher ed.
Paul Gaston’s new book, “Rebuilding Support for Higher Education: Practical Strategies for Principal Leaders,” offers a prescription for school administrators to weather the crisis.
Gaston sat down with Ideastream’s Jeff St. Clair.
ST.CLAIR: Paul, let’s start with the politics…
GASTON: Sure, and I think it's important to recognize that higher education has been facing political challenges for more than 50 years. When Ronald Reagan ran for governor on the platform of cleaning up the University of California, that was the kind of warning shot across the bow. And since then, higher education has really never been outside of the target zone.
So the question is, what's special about today?
What’s special now is that these different crises are all coming to bear at the same time.
ST.CLAIR: Sort of a perfect storm.
GASTON: It is a perfect storm.
On the one hand we have the political concerns: the intrusiveness of lawmakers far more than has ever been the case where state legislators are presuming to tell colleges and universities what to teach and how.
That's different.
We also have an important crisis of public opinion.
ST.CLAIR: Part of that could be that someone graduates with a four year degree end up $30,000 to $50,000 in debt and find that their four year degree hasn’t really helped increase their earning power.
So I think there might be a case where people are not valuing a college education as we once were.
GASTON: There are instances where students feel some regret for having chosen the wrong major or are the wrong institution. But those are relatively rare.
The average level of debt even now is much lower than generally believed to be. It typically is below the loan price of a good car. And so, shouldn't you invest in your higher education at least as generously as you might want to invest in the latest automobile?
But I think the the larger answer is, if we can make higher education more transparent to the public, then I think you will create a platform on which it's possible to rebuild support.
ST.CLAIR: What do you mean by transparency? What do schools need to do?
GASTON: Well, I think they need to be honest about how they're spending their money, for one thing. Most are, some are not.
And I think that that a few instances of this where the faculty believe or the public believe that that money has been poorly spent, the priorities are askew, then I think you have you have problems.
ST.CLAIR: Schools are in a bind.
We have this what they call the demographic cliff, where there are fewer kids graduating from high school than there were 10 or 20 years ago who might be entering college.
Schools are required to spend a lot of money on attractive perks like a new stadium, an expensive football program, wellness centers, swimming pools and workout spaces when competing to attract students.
I'm not sure I see a way out of this dilemma simply by them telling their story better.
What other structural changes are needed?
GASTON: I think part of telling the story better would be to tell it in concert with the community.
That is, not to wait until the decision has been made and then go out and try to explain it, but rather to engage the community, which would include your student body, which would include the members of the broader community, and state officials, and say, we're thinking about doing the following. They need to explain the risks and the benefits, and say, ‘we're going to be moving down this path of deliberation and wanted you to know about it.’
That kind of process doesn't happen very often.
ST.CLAIR: Conservatives are making a lot of political capital by attacking higher ed elites. The shorthand is that they have no connection to the ‘real’ working man or woman.
That alleged disconnect is focused on university's diversity, equity and inclusion programs which are suddenly toxic symbols of elitism...
GASTON: My irreverent suggestion is to ignore the elites and ask people what they think about their local four year college or about their community college.
Ask them if they believe those institutions are meeting the needs of the community.
I think you'll get a very different kind of of response than if you just invoke the kind of the specter of the elites, which are only 1 to 2% of the higher education community.
So the real emphasis ought to lie on the kinds of institutions that most students choose.
The cover of my book is a photograph of the lawn at the University of Virginia, which was created by Thomas Jefferson, who believe that public higher education was the support for America's future and that institution now, because of the decline in state support, probably charges $60,000 to $70,000 a year in out-of-state tuition.
And I described that as one of the great ironies of the last 50 years.
ST.CLAIR: It's interesting to examine the change that we've seen.
Thomas Jefferson saw higher education in America as a way for this country to succeed, and it has. People from all over the world come to America because of our education system.
But many people are saying that higher ed in the U.S is just a bunch of liberal institutions and a college degree is not worth that much, state support is essentially gone compared to where it was a generation ago...
So what has changed?
Why was this once valued concept of higher ed now something that lawmakers think they really need to fix in fundamental ways?
GASTON: I think when you hear a discussion like that, the wrong questions are driving that discussion. And I think the right questions have to do with an awareness of the full spectrum of American higher education and not just an isolated part that you select because you happen to disagree with it in some way.
Ask lawmakers who complain about the Ivy League elites what they think about their local community college, Tri-C College for example.
And typically they’ll say, ‘well, you know, they do some great stuff over there, and I love what they do for the community, and I love the way in which they create entry platforms throughout the calendar at all levels…’
So I think you'd get a different kind of conversation, and I think we ought to have that different kind of conversation more often than we do.
