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What Everyone Needs to Know
American Higher Education in Crisis?: What Everyone Needs to Know®
American higher education is at a crossroads. Technological innovations and disruptive market forces are buffeting colleges and universities at the very time their financial structure grows increasingly fragile. Disinvestment by states has driven up tuition prices at public colleges, and student debt has reached a startling record-high of one trillion dollars. Cost-minded students and their families--and the public at large--are questioning the worth of a college education, even as study after study shows how important it is to economic and social mobility. And as elite institutions trim financial aid and change other business practices in search of more sustainable business models, racial and economic stratification in American higher education is only growing.
In American Higher Education in Crisis?: What Everyone Needs to Know , Goldie Blumenstyk, who has been reporting on higher education trends for 25 years, guides readers through the forces and trends that have brought the education system to this point, and highlights some of the ways they will reshape America's colleges in the years to come. Blumenstyk hones in on debates over the value of post-secondary education, problems of affordability, and concerns about the growing economic divide. Fewer and fewer people can afford the constantly increasing tuition price of college, Blumenstyk shows, and yet college graduates in the United States now earn on average twice as much as those with only a high-school education. She also discusses faculty tenure and growing administrative bureaucracies on campuses; considers new demands for accountability such as those reflected in the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard; and questions how the money chase in big-time college athletics,
revelations about colleges falsifying rankings data, and corporate-style presidential salaries have soured public perception.
Higher education is facing a serious set of challenges, but solutions have also begun to emerge. Blumenstyk highlights how institutions are responding to the rise of alternative-educational opportunities and the new academic and business models that are appearing, and considers how the Obama administration and public organizations are working to address questions of affordability, diversity, and academic integrity. She addresses some of the advances in technology colleges are employing to attract and retain students; outlines emerging competency-based programs that are reshaping conceptions of a college degree, and offers readers a look at promising innovations that could alter the higher education landscape in the near future.
An extremely timely and focused look at this embattled and evolving arena, this primer emphasizes how open-ended the conversation about higher education's future remains, and illuminates how big the stakes are for students, colleges, and the nation.
In American Higher Education in Crisis?: What Everyone Needs to Know , Goldie Blumenstyk, who has been reporting on higher education trends for 25 years, guides readers through the forces and trends that have brought the education system to this point, and highlights some of the ways they will reshape America's colleges in the years to come. Blumenstyk hones in on debates over the value of post-secondary education, problems of affordability, and concerns about the growing economic divide. Fewer and fewer people can afford the constantly increasing tuition price of college, Blumenstyk shows, and yet college graduates in the United States now earn on average twice as much as those with only a high-school education. She also discusses faculty tenure and growing administrative bureaucracies on campuses; considers new demands for accountability such as those reflected in the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard; and questions how the money chase in big-time college athletics,
revelations about colleges falsifying rankings data, and corporate-style presidential salaries have soured public perception.
Higher education is facing a serious set of challenges, but solutions have also begun to emerge. Blumenstyk highlights how institutions are responding to the rise of alternative-educational opportunities and the new academic and business models that are appearing, and considers how the Obama administration and public organizations are working to address questions of affordability, diversity, and academic integrity. She addresses some of the advances in technology colleges are employing to attract and retain students; outlines emerging competency-based programs that are reshaping conceptions of a college degree, and offers readers a look at promising innovations that could alter the higher education landscape in the near future.
An extremely timely and focused look at this embattled and evolving arena, this primer emphasizes how open-ended the conversation about higher education's future remains, and illuminates how big the stakes are for students, colleges, and the nation.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
16 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 17, 2017
Higher education is a very complex world. College campuses are no longer simple places of higher learning. Campuses are virtually small cities with their own security force, emergency response systems, medical personnel, food services, technological infrastructure, etc. So it is pretty easy to say that colleges and universities cannot operate like the old days.
Today, colleges are at a crossroad. For better or for worse, newer technologies are finally starting to disrupt the educational process. Can colleges, which are infamous for begin slow adapters, survive these insanely rapid changes?
Society is very good at identifying problems and failures but not very good at recognizing success. So where is education working well? Our public high school education system does not seem to be succeeding, no matter how much money politicians throw at it. Our top-tier private colleges seem to always be lambasted for being too elite and exclusive. Public universities and community colleges are definitely praised for their open access but their student success rates are dismal.
What is not working? We know that answer. What is working? Well, that is a good question.
Is there an American higher education crisis? I am not sure there is a crisis on the horizon, but I definitely think there will be immense changes. Colleges and universities will have to rethink their goals and re-strategize their missions.
This work from Goldie Blumenstyk is an excellent guide to modern issues in higher education. The book simply asks the most common questions you hear about colleges today and then gives us a very clear and concise answer. If I had to teach a masters level class called “Introduction to Higher Education Administration,” this book easily would be my central text.
Today, colleges are at a crossroad. For better or for worse, newer technologies are finally starting to disrupt the educational process. Can colleges, which are infamous for begin slow adapters, survive these insanely rapid changes?
Society is very good at identifying problems and failures but not very good at recognizing success. So where is education working well? Our public high school education system does not seem to be succeeding, no matter how much money politicians throw at it. Our top-tier private colleges seem to always be lambasted for being too elite and exclusive. Public universities and community colleges are definitely praised for their open access but their student success rates are dismal.
What is not working? We know that answer. What is working? Well, that is a good question.
Is there an American higher education crisis? I am not sure there is a crisis on the horizon, but I definitely think there will be immense changes. Colleges and universities will have to rethink their goals and re-strategize their missions.
This work from Goldie Blumenstyk is an excellent guide to modern issues in higher education. The book simply asks the most common questions you hear about colleges today and then gives us a very clear and concise answer. If I had to teach a masters level class called “Introduction to Higher Education Administration,” this book easily would be my central text.
August 19, 2022
Bought this book years ago and finally read it! This was an excellent quick snapshot of the state of higher education and shifting role that college play in students’ lives — illuminating enrollment trends by demographic and type of institution, factors influencing the rising cost of college, increasing student loan debt, governance structures, and innovations on the rise.
I actually really enjoyed reading this book years later as it was interesting to see which of these trends continued as anticipated and which took major turns (pandemic anyone??). I’d be interested in reading a “10 years later” version!
I actually really enjoyed reading this book years later as it was interesting to see which of these trends continued as anticipated and which took major turns (pandemic anyone??). I’d be interested in reading a “10 years later” version!
December 10, 2018
The style of writing answers to many questions about higher education from athletics to financial aid to admissions etc making it very digestible. Also, provides opposing viewpoints for each topic for a well balanced explanation of issues.
December 15, 2015
I picked this book up just after paying off my student loans. After I was finally able to wipe away the anxiety of being deeply in debt, I began to ask questions about how I ended up in this situation in the first place. American Higher Education in Crisis? is designed as a crib sheet for those with similar questions. It asks the questions that I wanted answers for:
- Don't most public colleges get the majority of their support from their states?
- In the past, students would work their way through school. Why can't they do that today?
- So what about the spending on these noninstructional costs? Is "administrative bloat" a figure in rising prices?
- Do those "lazy rivers" and other elements of the "amenities race" drive up college costs?
- What other things contribute to rising college costs?
I'll admit it: I was hoping to find a few gotchas that were disproportionately leading to the increase in college costs. And the truth is that some areas have grown more than others, but the problems are systemic rather than localized.
- Don't most public colleges get the majority of their support from their states?
- In the past, students would work their way through school. Why can't they do that today?
- So what about the spending on these noninstructional costs? Is "administrative bloat" a figure in rising prices?
- Do those "lazy rivers" and other elements of the "amenities race" drive up college costs?
- What other things contribute to rising college costs?
I'll admit it: I was hoping to find a few gotchas that were disproportionately leading to the increase in college costs. And the truth is that some areas have grown more than others, but the problems are systemic rather than localized.
April 9, 2016
my fault. I shouldn't have borrowed this from the library. It's an ok, brisk recap of some current issues in higher education. If, like me, you work in higher education and take an interest in what is being said about it in the media, nothing new here. If you don't know much about the subject but are curious (e.g., you've sort of dimly heard that admission is competitive but don't know to what extent this applies to all or most colleges), this will make a fine, balanced, non-axe-grinding intro.
I need an occasional reminder like this that just because i'm interested in a subject does not mean i should grab books about it from the "new nonfiction" shelf. Syndrome parallels my downfall as a conference attender in the early part of my career ("hey, there's a symposium on cognitive therapy of depression; gotta see that!" -- oops, same stuff I heard last year and read/reviewed manuscripts on the whole time in between -- next year, go to talks on stuff you need to learn more about!).
I need an occasional reminder like this that just because i'm interested in a subject does not mean i should grab books about it from the "new nonfiction" shelf. Syndrome parallels my downfall as a conference attender in the early part of my career ("hey, there's a symposium on cognitive therapy of depression; gotta see that!" -- oops, same stuff I heard last year and read/reviewed manuscripts on the whole time in between -- next year, go to talks on stuff you need to learn more about!).
September 25, 2019
A great overview, in Q&A format, of the state of American education. Some of the conclusions were old hat to me—MOOCs are disruptive but not to a earthshaking degree, administration is ballooning—but some was new and appropriately shocking: an undergrad working minimum wage would have to work more than sixty hours a week year round to pay their way through four year college; merit scholarships are crowding out needs based funding; low income and minority students are under represented in elite schools and over represented in for profits.
Yeah it can be alarmist but it’s also invigorating to think of all the ways education will transform. The GI bill created a “crisis” that transformed education in ways that we don’t even recognize today.
Yeah it can be alarmist but it’s also invigorating to think of all the ways education will transform. The GI bill created a “crisis” that transformed education in ways that we don’t even recognize today.
December 2, 2014
Really accessible and great discussion of all the major issues facing higher ed. Should be a must-read for any journalist covering this subject as well as anyone who wants to understand what's going on in the higher education space these days.
March 1, 2015
Talks about what we all generally know about Higher Education (If you do actually know). If not, provides an indepth view to the history and the future of the industry.
January 5, 2022
Great primer on all the hurdles that students, parents, educators, and institutions face in the current economic and social climate.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews