Rising costs. Unfair admissions. Threats to academic freedom. The future of the American university.<\/p>\n
NPR\u2019s On Point today tackled the American university system and the threats\u00a0it is facing. Guest host\u00a0Ray Suarez<\/span><\/a>\u00a0talked with Columbia University\u2019s\u00a0Jonathan Cole<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about his new book,\u00a0\u201cToward a More Perfect University\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and Richard Vedder,\u00a0director of the\u00a0Center for College Affordability and Productivity<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n In his intro, Suarez laid out some of the well-known challenges on the horizon\u00a0for higher education: \u201cFaulty business models, impossible admissions standard, misused budgets straining American families and the schools themselves.\u201d The threat, he suggested, is that if American universities do not address these issues, they will lose their best students to schools overseas and fall short of their mission to educate young people.<\/p>\n Among the topics addressed during the hour were the need for colleges to clearly define the values and skills students will have upon graduation, to refine the criteria for college admission and to address the skyrocketing cost of tuition. The guests proposed both structural changes\u2013reallocations of public funding at state and federal levels, lowering interest rates on student loan debt\u2013and cultural shifts around how we define for what and for whom college exists.<\/p>\n Disturbingly, it was suggested during the conversation by both Vedder and a caller that we may need to question which fields of research\u00a0should<\/i>\u00a0be supported. Namely, they asked whether\u00a0fields like Sociology and Women\u2019s Studies should receive funding when they turn out graduates who are\u00a0only qualified for low-paying jobs. This\u00a0assertion, among many other contentious issues from the episode, are flamed heartily in the\u00a0comments section of On Point\u2019s website<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n You can listen to the episode below.<\/p>\n