By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK
Higher education in America was already in trouble before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In the mid-1980s, most states supported more public university costs. Some states paid two dollars for every dollar a student paid in tuition toward instructional costs. Some state’s schools were more expensive, some nearly free. But less that half of high school graduates went to college. And minimum ACT or SAT scores were required. Many graduated without school debt. By 2001, all states had moved to chasing student tuition. Some states essentially ended any tuition-assistance and were state universities in name only. Over 80 percent of high school graduates start a tertiary education (about 60 percent finish it). And student school debt today is enormous.
America’s lack of public support for education has been growing for four decades. The European Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development includes the U.S. in its assessment of high school students (PISA) and our students rank well below most other developed countries. Indeed, as public universities jockey for tuition dollars, foreign students—and their higher out-of-state tuition—have become an important source of dollars to subsidize education of U.S. students. Half of U.S. post-doc students are foreign-born as are 29 percent of full time STEM faculty.
Foreign student enrollment began to severely erode in 2017 due to restrictions on visas and stricter time-limits, especially for students from China. But this shift in attitude toward foreign students was felt widely by students abroad. Travel restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has accelerated this problem. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. high school graduates will also decline after 2025.
At schools that shifted to all-online courses, students have expressed widespread dissatisfaction. Some want their money back for programs that they could not complete, or for which they feel the learning experience was inferior or ineffective. University faculty have long been pushed to present courses online and despite the coercion, most have found it inferior. In the case of labs and field work—essential in many professions—online doesn’t work. Nevertheless, despite students’ overwhelming response that face-to-face is better, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the newspaper of record, runs plenty of ads promoting online as the superior education of the future.
Community relations can take a hit when local college coronavirus infections have soared. Since college students often come from a far distance, efforts by universities to test and isolate on campus has worked to varying degrees. But travel back-and-forth from home in some cases has caused a spread. Many schools changed the fall semester so students did not return after Thanksgiving break. Spring break is being eliminated at many schools. And any outbreak could result in immediate changes in policy.
Weekend parties have become a big issue. On one side, some universities ordered a halt and enforced lockdowns. Others lamented that students-will-be-students and partying is inevitable. In different communities, different policies prevailed.
Community colleges, which were seen as the up-and-coming option for associate degrees and job training, and which mostly serve local communities, would seem to be at an advantage in not importing the virus from afar. But community college enrollment has taken a larger hit than four-year institutions, apparently because they serve students who are more affected by the severe economic downturn.
Except for research on the coronavirus, most other research has come to a halt, ending projects and stalling progress on masters and doctoral work. For campuses that had to shut down, research animals had to be euthanized. Social research was ended. Some students could not finish their research degrees.
Those who finish their graduate degrees are facing a frozen job market with far fewer opportunities.
Public higher education still relies on some tax-based support in many states. The major cost is salaries. Public colleges are already planning to cut programs and staff. Since they have become tuition-based, many are cutting programs based on program enrollment. This was already occurring nationwide as fewer students take foreign languages. But other low enrollment fields such as physics and chemistry may also take serious cuts if this strategy is adopted. This will increase our reliance on foreign born scientists just at a time when we are losing them.
Not all countries fund their educational institutions based on fluctuating tax revenue. Most countries value their colleges and universities and want their next generations in higher education. Only in the United States have we seen a growing anti-intellectual movement where a larger number of citizens no longer value higher education. That lack of respect for higher education was building before this pandemic and will not likely go away soon.
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John Richard Schrock has trained biology teachers for more than 30 years in Kansas. He also has lectured at 27 universities in 20 trips to China. He holds the distinction of “Faculty Emeritus” at Emporia State University.