While recent headlines have criticized the for-profit sector of higher education, an objective examination reveals they are in many ways more responsive than nonprofit sector institutions to the needs of today’s students.
Factors driving growth in the for-profit sector include student preferences for accessibility and convenience via online offerings, as well as the ability for direct, immediate application of educational content to their workplace environments.
As people seek to improve their education, skills and training in this tough job market, statistics show that for-profit sector students experience greater annual salary increases than the national average for all workers.
Other statistics show the number of online educational program offerings has doubled over the past two years. Mainstream higher education has driven few innovations in the way online students are taught.
The current model mimics traditional on-campus education, with students paying tuition to study in professor-led classes that meet at specific times and last from eight to 11 weeks. The problem is that this current model has not translated well for online students.
At Harrison College, we have found that 87 percent of our on-campus students in one quarter return for the next quarter. But among our online students, the retention rate is only 80 percent. Recent research among community colleges corroborates these results. No matter where students attend college, their online experience is essentially similar. Schools provide text-driven websites, with few or no graphics, and limited interaction with faculty and fellow students.
Yet higher education has the technology and the tools to build innovative online environments that will revolutionize online education. Now is the time for online education to come into its own.
We are leading the way at Harrison College with a new academic venture called “KnowU,” where online students will learn in an interactive, graphic-rich environment that allows them to connect with one another in a social network setting that includes the ability to import their personal Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
KnowU uses sophisticated analytical engines to suggest resources based on the students’ academic, personal and career needs, such as locating internships or alerting an adviser.
It also connects students to full 24/7 support, based on their preferences and situations. Online students at Harrison College’s KnowU will benefit from a stronger sense of belonging to a community as a result of these services.
Such upgrades are essential because a third of the students starting at Harrison College this fall will take all of their classes online, and two-thirds of our current students are taking at least one class online. These figures reflect what is happening nationally, with online academic programs surging everywhere.
The appeal of online programs comes not just from technology’s increased presence in our society but also the changing needs of the student population. Adults are finding they regularly need new training to stay current in the workforce, especially with changing technologies and new knowledge in their fields. Many have families and maintain jobs while they continue their education.
The traditional nonprofit residential university oriented toward 18- to 22-year-olds and clocked credit hours often cannot satisfy the needs of, say, a military veteran with a family and day job who wants to beef up his or her technical skill set via online educational courses that can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
Because the for-profit sector of higher education tends to be more nimble and entrepreneurial, it can more readily respond to the needs of such a nontraditional student.
Rather than bemoan the proliferation of new, emerging educational models, or unnecessarily criticize them, we as a society should embrace the idea of higher education as an open system with enough richness and variety to meet the educational needs of any and all students.
Higher education today is a dynamic competitive environment, and many students will be drawn to the promise and rich reward of virtual educational experiences such as those now offered by Harrison College. I invite the public and my peers in the field of higher education to come take a look at the future of education at knowu.harrison.edu.