Our new students have been on campus for about 6
weeks but we are already entering prime season in recruiting new students. I already have had the pleasure of talking to
the first fall open house group of the season and potential students and their
families were very clearly focused on the decision they likely would be making
in the next 6 months. In thinking about
my talk to these students and their loved ones, I focused on what I have heard
from parents and new/potential students last year as well as what I have heard
from talking with students and parents in the school district where I
live.
There seems to be, up to the last few weeks when
the ill conceived effort to defund Obamacare threatened to undermine the slowly
progressing economic recovery, a greater sense of optimism permeating our
country. Hopefully, that sense of
optimism will reappear in the weeks ahead.
Optimism works to shift some attention from the sticker price of higher
education to the value inherent in the education. In a weak economy, price often trumps all;
when the economy improves, class size, personal attention, and support services
all take on greater prominence.
Scholarships, however, remain an important part of the currency of
higher education; parents clearly feel they have been more successful, along
with the son or daughter, when a scholarship is part of the attraction.
Even with the economy improving, students and their
families seem to be maintaining their focus on the job or graduate school opportunity
at the end of the baccalaureate degree studies.
Thankfully our increased attention to outcomes assessment provides us
with reliable information on what recent graduates are doing and that
information is very reassuring. Students
and their parents also seem to be maintaining their interest in and enthusiasm
for an internship along the way. I strongly agree that an internship can
provide that important bridge between school and a career and provide the
student with added sophistication that increases the chances for success. Dual degree programs also seem to be more and
more attractive to potential students.
The opportunity to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree
in an overall shorter period of time enhances the value proposition. Think about it, even five years ago and
certainly a decade ago, there was much less concern about the job at the end of
the degree, much less emphasis on internships, and much less emphasis on dual
degrees. I believe the new priorities
have strengthened higher education but there certainly has been a price to be
paid.
The price has been the declining appreciation for
the importance of a well rounded liberal arts education as the foundation for
higher education. A dual major, a minor
along with a major, more time for internships, a chance at a dual degree, all
are often made possible by a reduction on the number of foundational liberal
arts courses that are the critical source of the common body of knowledge that
higher education should provide. The
appreciation for the liberal arts is often overshadowed now by the desire to
have more professional experiences, certifications and credentials. Graduates are often expected to be more
specialists and less generalists, more sophisticated in the imediate needs of
the chosen profession but less able to understand world issues and challenges.
We all work hard to provide incoming students and
their families with the quality education they want in their chosen field. We change with the changing times and here
there is no choice. But along with the
changes, there also has to be an ongoing commitment to the liberal arts. Higher education should never be confused
with a trade school education.
Dr. Herman Berliner has witnessed and participated in the growth of Hofstra University from a small, regional school to the renowned national institution of higher education it is today. In his blog, he shares his thoughts about academic and university events, issues in higher education, and life on the modern college campus.