A different kind of higher education

There's a new book out called Change.edu by Andrew Rosen. I saw a review of it and wanted to pass it along to you. Once again, it involves education, my area of interest.

Mr. Rosen, who is chief executive of Kaplan Inc., one of the largest for-profit higher-education providers in the country, has created a book after lots of research. He did in-person interviews and firsthand reporting at colleges across the country. One of the book's themes is that most colleges and universities have trouble identifying exactly whom they are trying to please and thus what exactly they are supposed to be doing.

And little wonder—think only of the tangled network of income sources and self-interested constituencies that vie for the attention of a college administrator. There are of course students and the parents who pay the tuition bill. There are taxpayers, who underwrite college subsidies in one form or another (including research grants and financial aid). There are alumni, whose donations are a key to university solvency. There are even sports fans, whose enthusiasm plays no small role in college branding and consumer appeal. Unfortunately, this mix of financial imperatives can lead colleges to focus too little on what students are learning in the classroom. Amen!

Mr. Rosen's answer to the higher-ed mess is for-profit education. He believes that for-profits are the rightful inheritors of America's abiding mission to expand access to higher education. But unlike public and private not-for-profit schools, for-profits can be single-minded: The student is the customer. Imagine that. Tuition makes up almost all the revenue of a for-profit school. At private not-for-profits, tuition accounts for only 29% of revenues and at public colleges as little as 13%.

The accusations of misconduct that have been leveled at some for-profit schools in recent years, Mr. Rosen concedes, are not unfounded—pushing unaffordable loans on students, recruiting students who are not able to do the work, etc. He merely says that, in the for-profit world, companies that cheat their customers or that aim at only short-term profits will not survive. Meanwhile public and private not-for-profits can remain in business regardless of how badly they behave.

What are the teachers like at for-profit schools? Their professors are engaged exclusively in teaching, not research. No one has tenure, so incompetence means dismissal. Teaching is quality-controlled and student performance strictly measured. Nice . . .

The for-profit schools can track "learning outcomes" because much (though not all) of their education is online. For a book with a "dot" in the title, Mr. Rosen's Change.edu does not spend a lot of time defending this mode of education—it's just, well, the future. And maybe it is. He is careful not to overstate the value of online learning, acknowledging that there is plenty to be gained in the traditional, seminar-room, residential model of college—he calls it the "meandering" model. But there are many students who want a "direct route" to knowledge and skills. Mr. Rosen makes a strong case that for-profits, when properly run, are ready to provide it.

I still enjoy seeing students in a classroom, but I do believe some would benefit from online classes. We'll see how these for-profit places do when they come up against the power of traditional schools. It should be interesting.