Today
we are creating a caste system in America, without the help of the Hindu
religion. We are doing it with our
system of advanced education. A college
degree has become so expensive that it is only afforded by great athletes and
the children of the wealthy. The truly
great athletes only finish a year or two, before going on to the pros. The
children of the middle class and those with low income parents either don’t
attend college or they graduate with a degree and a crippling college loan
debt. A shovel, a hammer or a rifle may
be a better alternative than the college debt.
Does a hundred thousand dollars in college debt sound like an efficient
means of separating the common folks from the wealthy?
Presently
there are caring college professors offering random online courses, at little
or no cost, with no degree or acceptable college credits, at their
conclusion. There are also very
expensive, private colleges’, online degrees being offered, without much
prestige to the diploma. The system is
market driven or random at best. The
proper solution will involve long range planning (a rarity) to benefit our
nation. Presently, our government
decisions are made by our large corporations and the range of their planning is
their next quarterly income statement.
Below, is a letter written to our president, before “Affordable
Healthcare”, to which I received a boiler-plate, “Thank You…” The letter was obviously never seen by our president. President Obama commented in a State of The
Union speech that he would still be paying on his college loans, if he
hadn’t gotten a couple of successful
books published. Not all of us will hit
the lottery in our lifetime. Below is
the letter I sent to the President, outlining a realistic method of turning
back the clock to a day when a deserving student could become a college
graduate:
Dear Mr. President:
As you well know, the cost of higher education is
shooting up like the cost of healthcare.
The difference in the two problems is that there is a simple solution to
the escalating cost of college and post graduate work. Today, the middle income, or below, parent can
no longer afford a college education for their son or daughter. Colleges are increasing tuition while
offering less class selection. The
answer to the problem is currently seen as: student federal service time, more
tax dollars to universities, government sponsored student loans, Pell grants
and tax reductions to students and parents.
These all equal additional tax costs.
But none of the present solutions deal with the root of the
problem. The cost of higher education is too high and getting higher. The solution to the problem lies in a well
designed federal online university.
If we could lower the cost of higher education, while
increasing its quality, rather than sponsoring the ever increasing cost with
student and taxpayer dollars, wouldn’t that be a good thing? We can.
The technology is here now. Take a look at the broad selection of degrees
offered through the internet at The University of Illinois Online and at many
other internet colleges across the nation. But, as you know, the virtual
university costs are nearly as high as actually attending a campus. Online college competition raises each of
their costs by lowering enrollment.
The development of a federally sponsored online university
would solve the cost penalty to a bachelor or graduate degree. It would require initial support from the
federal government. A realistic target
for the cost to a student would be under one thousand dollars per year (30
units) of education. And this amount
would ultimately self support the university.
If every online student of Accounting 101 across the nation is taking
the course from the same professor and is using the same online textbook wouldn’t
the cost of those 3 units be very reasonable for that student? And could you not hire the best Accounting
101 professor at a top level salary to teach this course? The professor could teach from his home or
his university. Many professors would
get more satisfaction from teaching a group of twenty-five thousand students
than from teaching twenty-five. A
faculty composed of the best in the nation would offer a highly respected
diploma from a prestigious university.
Exams would be given just as the SATs are, in libraries, junior colleges
and other locally monitored community facilities. TA’s would be available for online questions.
An online low cost university would be open to all
qualified students. It would allow the
student the opportunity to see a given lecture two or three times if they
weren’t confident of their understanding the first time. This would allow a student to master each
subject. As college exists today you can
receive a D in a subject and balance it with an A in another subject. This college could require mastery and
therefore represent a better education and better qualifications to prospective
employers. Today, in classes, time is
the constant. The grade is the
variable. With this system, mastery is
the constant and time is the variable.
Students would move at their own rate.
If a bachelor’s degree takes one person two years and another six, so be
it. They have mastered the curriculum in
either case. Some will be able to
proceed full time and others, who might be supporting themselves or a family,
will not.
An online university has its shortcomings. There is no socialization or establishing
contacts in your chosen field. Today,
some students can’t afford this luxury or have no time for it or will not need
it. As an example, if you are a law
student, one of your three graduate years might be spent in a courtroom
environment or an internship. The other
two years could be accomplished online.
You have just knocked two thirds off of the cost of a law degree. Study for the state bar can be done
completely online. Any given bachelor’s
degree may require one semester or a full year on campus. I believe that a good percentage of
universities would gladly co-operate with such a program, offering the
on-campus requirements.
This is a shift
in paradigms whose time has come. It is
time to make our citizens the best educated population in the world. Ability and effort will become the
determining factors for a great education.
A high school counselor will be able to tell an incoming freshman in a
low income neighborhood, “Your education is no longer determined by your parents’
wealth. You decide if you are working
for a college degree.” The student will
be able to pass the message down to their younger siblings. A new hope for the future will be born.
I enjoyed my four years in college in the sixties. It provided me with a better future and a
better life for my family. I had no
college loans. College was reasonable in
the 60s, so I was able to work and pay as I went. This lack of debt also enabled me to start a
small, successful business within two years of graduation. With
the present cost of tuition, room, board and books you couldn’t possibly do
this. The choice for a good student,
today, having parents of average income, is to graduate with a diploma and a
giant debt, or to not be able to go to college at all.
I think that the federal, state and local governments,
working together, could provide an excellent alternative route to a university
degree. State sponsored universities
would need to cooperate with the online program in order to furnish the on-campus
time that some majors require, such as labs, hands on study and discussion
groups. Turn back the clock fifty years
for the cost of higher education. Let
all worthy students go to college. Make
The Federal Online University a reality.
And, set this online university on track to become one of the best rated
universities in the nation.
This could be a university with the best professors in
the nation, demanding mastery of their students and offering a prestigious
degree. The described federal online
university would offer an equal opportunity to all students, at a cost that
both they and their government can afford.
The student, who should get a college education, will get a college
education and our nation will be better for it.
Is this a non-partisan issue or would you face a Republican filibuster? Wouldn’t our corporations get behind this in
order to supply themselves with a better educated work force and be more
competitive in the world marketplace? You
will take some flak from the present universities, but this idea will come to
be. I would love to see it implemented
properly during your administration and be a part of your legacy.
(Sorry for this blog post being so long, but I thought you might enjoy reading something that the POTUS was not allowed to.)
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