The corporate college: how it’s failing us

By JoAllie Paluchak

According to U.S. News & World Report, roughly 70 percent of graduates have student loans lingering, building interest and waiting for the unknown day when they will be paid off. Statistically, the average 2016 graduate has roughly $40,000 in debt.

This information solidifies that college institutions are indeed a business, in which their goal is to bring more people into their arena, thus, increasing their influx of money. The supply and demand of a college’s economy is easy to understand, the college provides students a service — which in this case is an education and ultimately a degree — and the students pay for the teachers, resources and classrooms that makes such a service possible. Yet, the system has many grey areas that potentially harm the student’s financial, emotional and mental health.

First, let’s tackle the idea and the pressure that comes with colleges upholding a certain image and resume. For example, Edinboro University’s enrollment rate is down approximately 28 percent from 2010 to 2016, thereby, hurting Edinboro’s reputation as a fruitful business. In conjunction, The Daily Caller states, “Just 14 percent of this year’s college seniors have steady, career-type jobs lined up for their lives after graduation.”

In light of the solid evidence suggesting that colleges are failing economically and educationally, there is absolutely talk of reducing funds or closing down schools. Moreover, what is the level of “quality” education that students are receiving and how does that equate to ultimate price of tuition and their time?

The fault of an institution’s “image” is that the whole infrastructure’s idea of success is based on getting people into the trap of financial ruin, thus not focused on creating career-oriented individuals. This is supported by the fact that only certain classes are available during fall and spring semesters you are required to take courses not related to your major, and more recently, the threat of not being able to re-take your major classes more than a handful of times. Furthermore, colleges want you to spend as much time as you can to get your degree, because here in America time truly is money and all colleges are in great need of your money and enrollment status to keep their own economy alive.

Second, it is the American corporate perspective of college that creates the disconnect between college being linked directly to the purpose of a higher education. It is a macro level problem, in which the government and its officials do not collectively value and put funds and effort into building strong colleges and producing effective career workers. It is those who hold supreme power and money that dictate from their office chairs, in their ivory tower, the rules that govern our systems; yet, their concentration is on the economic factors of how to better the school, not on how to better the financial burden for students. We pay for this and if we want better, we must demand so and infuse a new system worth our time and money.