College in the Age of Corona: Will It Ever be the Same? by FREDERICK M. HESS The coronavirus pandemic has upended America’s col- programs already involved a hefty online component. There’s tough sledding ahead for colleges. As Andrew leges and universities. Last spring, schools shut mid-semester, kicking students out of dorms and hurriedly moving classes Kelly, director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at online. The results were pretty dismal, with students feeling the University of North Carolina, has pointed out, colleges are ripped off and professors lost at sea. After this rocky spring, it’s likely to face an enrollment crisis, with student surveys suggesting that “colleges could face declining enrollments as high natural to wonder: What’s ahead this fall? as 20%.” On top of ongoing reveFor starters, while there’s still nue shortfalls, which the American much uncertainty, plenty of colCouncil on Education claims that leges have announced that they’ll colleges will need $34.6 billion to be going remote this fall. Instituaddress, a drop in enrollment could tions from the mammoth Cal State prove devastating for some institusystem to Harvard University have tions. told students that they’ll be taking College leaders need to look courses on their iPad — but will ahead with a sense of urgency and still be paying full freight. imagination. Meanwhile, what we For the slice of students enneed from higher education has rolled in four-year institutions, this changed, even before the pandemic. is a lousy deal indeed. After all, Originally, we needed to figure out students are typically told there are how to get experts, books, and stuthree big benefits from attending a dents together at a time when edurecognizable college or university: cated instructors were scarce, books the campus experience, the exquiwere rare, and students needed to be site academic instruction, and a Frederick M. Hess in the presence of a teacher. Now brand that offers a big leg up in the that books are plentiful and authorilabor market. Well, that campus extative lectures are all over YouTube, perience has evaporated. And stuThe case for taking on big what do we need colleges for? Well, dents are not pleased. As one surloans to attend residential for three things, at least. vey of over 3,000 college students First, to organize the flood colleges has now been found, more than three-quarters of content into coherent units of said this spring’s online instruction reduced to the hope that a knowledge, explain what’s most was unengaging and two-thirds felt piece of paper verifying that important, and ensure that students it was inferior to in-person learning. have actually learned it. Second, a student watched Zoom In short, the case for taking on big loans to attend residential colleges sessions featuring professors to aid students who are struggling by providing them guidance and has now been reduced to the hope from College X will translate support. And, third, to conduct rethat a piece of paper verifying that search and serve as lighthouses of to a better job. a student watched Zoom sessions free inquiry and civic discourse. featuring professors from College Many colleges did a lousy job X will translate to a better job. with all of this, even before the Meanwhile, for the lion’s share of students who are enrolled in two-year colleges or who are pandemic. Too many courses are disjointed or unduly narrow. not “traditional” college-goers, the picture is a little different. There’s little assurance that students have mastered essential The value of their degree relies less on faculty relationships content. Less than half of the college students actually graduor the campus experience, and more on acquiring skills and ate, partly because institutions provide insufficient guidance or documenting that they’ve acquired them. Their education support. And there’s not currently much cause to regard cammore readily shifts to an online format; indeed, many of these puses as beacons of free thought or civility. 14
RIPON FORUM August 2020
