(2018-07-13) Should GenEd Come Later? New Book Argues For Cheaper And Faster Alternatives To College

Should Gen-Ed Come Later? New Book Argues For Cheaper And Faster Alternatives to College - EdSurge News

The book is called “A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College,” and it is written by a venture capitalist making bets on which alternatives he thinks have the most promise. (Alternatives To A College Degree) The author is Ryan Craig, co-founder and managing director of University Ventures

colleges have oversold the idea of the bachelor’s degree.

book talks about is these dual crises of affordability—which I think is well recognized—and employability

there are only 200 universities and colleges in the country that are selective, meaning [those]that admit fewer than 50 percent of applicants

the other 3,800 schools

if it’s not a selective school, and it doesn’t pass that Lumina rule of 10 test, you should stay away from that like the plague

So you’re saying it’s not so much about the campus amenities or the quality of the teaching even, but it’s about the selectivity? I think that’s the factor that leads to economic outcomes. Of course, what you study also matters a great deal. But at the outset certainly students are making the decision not about what they’re going to study as much, but more about where they’re going to go, or whether to go.

I’m extremely skeptical about online education. I don’t think that online options are actually solving this problem

These faster and cheaper programs tend to be immersive, work-like environments, that train both on the technical skills as well as the soft skills.

In fact, half of people who were under-employed in their first job are also under-employed 10 years later

the millennial generation has just been slaughtered economically by this overwhelming focus on college and the degree as the sole pathway, and these crises of affordability and employability.

in a faster and cheaper universe, you’re going to have to have career discovery at the secondary-school level. Which is to say that students are going to need to exit high school having a sense of which industry they might want to get a good first job in because the pathways are going to be very specific.

You’ll take a 3- to 6- to 9- to 12-month pathway to a good first job, preferably one where you don’t incur any debt, and you’ll go right into a good first job

You’ll work in that job for 2 to 3 years, you’ll really get a much better understanding of that industry, [and whether] it is really where you want to be. And you’ll look around and you’ll say, "Okay, what other skills do I need?" Then I think it’s going to be incumbent on the 4,000 higher-education institutions in this country to essentially offer a set of secondary and tertiary pathways that will address that population.

What about the suggestions that community college should be free

I think that’s a fallacy. The notion that free community college is [ever] actually free is incorrect. Supporting yourself for two years, depending on where you live in America, is going to be somewhere between $15,000 to $30,000, and many of those students are taking on debt to support themselves through essentially two years of general education. (liberal arts)

Another way to think about this is: let’s turn it upside down. The GenEd can come after.