Higher education en masse is in a crisis. The higher ed market is more competitive than ever with degrees serving as the new standard for a bulk of preferable employment. Small-medium sized private schools are facing a major decline in enrollment on top of increasingly daunting debt—the schools that were once the top of the priority list are becoming too expensive for prospective students to even consider. Families are pressed for creative payment ideas and giving enough slack for their children to be able to have some notion of choice in school while balancing selection with ultimate cost. Paying for college is such a momentous feat that many people are just not doing it; high school graduation rates are dropping, college dropout rates are rising, and low-skill opportunities are becoming harder to come by because of the influx of applicants. This is all encouraging a potential change in the dynamic of higher education as an institution, one that I don’t think benefits our society.
Colleges and universities must offset the cost of dropping tuition-derived revenue so they have to get creative in order to get themselves back on track. Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire announced in January 2014 that it would reorganize six departments, resulting in the disciplines no longer offering Major programs. This directly impacted a little over 1/14th of the tiny school, but with the rest of the plan impacting everyone as the administration “also announced plans to reduce financial aid, eliminate health insurance plans for students, and change some vacation benefits for new faculty to better position the university financially” as Kaitlin Mulhere reported for The Keene Sentinel. However, one idea brought to the table by the school’s new marketing director James Wolken was to reinstitute the abandoned political polling operation just in time for what turned out to be one of the most highly covered, controversial, and followed presidential races in history. Together with The Boston Herald, a private pollster, and university employee Mr. Card the polling operation attracted White House commentary and was able to detect Senator Bernie Sanders leading Hillary Clinton in Franklin Pierce’s home and early-caucus-er New Hampshire. This was huge.
Following the wild coverage of this news, always bearing the university’s name in the poll citations, Franklin Pierce saw applications rise 79%. This may not be a lasting solution to the school’s financial woes, however it is a giant positive step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, higher education institutions themselves are not the only ones who have to get creative to cover costs. The families of prospective and enrolled students are largely watching their hair turn grey as their bank accounts turn hollow while simultaneously at times putting a huge financial burden in a Jack-in-the-Box just waiting to spring on an unsuspecting (and oftentimes unready) college graduate. Students and their families only have a couple of options when it comes to creative solutions.
After applying for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and analyzing possible payment plans, many families are still left scratching their heads wondering how they will pull off paying for a college education. Forbes contributor Mark Greene points out that “Navigating the private student loan marketplace can be fraught with peril in the form of variable rates, befuddling terms and co-signor agreements.” Greene offers insight into the “mortgage financing universe” and the two ways he sees it offering some help to families looking for sensible ways to pay: the cash-out refinance and the home equity line of credit (HELOC). The first requires a family to beef up their mortgage loan and therefore increase monthly payments in exchange for pocketing the difference between the old and new contracts. A HELOC is an addition credit line on a mortgage that can be used on a need-only basis with temporary (typically 10-year) interest rates which only apply when you actually use funds. Both of these methods are potentially tax deductible, and Greene recommends wading through these waters with a financial planner in tow if you don’t already have one.
All of this navigation could potentially teach a prospective or enrolled student a lesson they never planned on learning in fiscal responsibility. Beth Pinsker shows that “some families are using the application process as an opportunity to teach their kids valuable lessons about finance” for Reuters. Pinsker points to families pushing their applicants into Microsoft Excel virtuosity through meticulous and thorough planning. The various methods ultimately determine application decisions, whether or not the students can afford to buy a car, and post-graduation spending limitations. I would imagine that after some of these evaluations some students decided to attend a community college for the first two years of their college career and plan to transfer in the future to complete their Bachelor’s degrees once they compared price tags. This is an increasingly popular path and one that only looks more attractive as free public college legislation dances around the Congress floor and as community colleges themselves are starting to better themselves every day thanks to the influx of supply and demand.
I still call of this a crisis for higher education because while there are sensible alternative routes to the traditional matriculation process, the ever-important element of choice is becoming more and more limited. Prospective students have to think on their toes much earlier than they did before which can be destructive when their ideas and plans may not be as ripe for picking as they should be, especially when the stakes are some of the highest that the young decision-makers will ever encounter. If struggling institutions continue to chase catchy quick-fixes they may become like a cornered Pac-Man who has eaten nearly every dot on the map and that damn purple ghost just to turn the corner and be flat-lined by three more rushing at him all at once. Fluctuating markets, fed up students, and a ruined reputation.
Game over.
