University presidents: We've been blindsided

[ffr]

Leaders of top institutions acknowledge that perceptions of elitism have hurt their brand.



University presidents say they have been blindsided by charges that they are catering to the wealthy at the same moment that conservatives attack them for elitism, turning their once-untouchable institutions into political punching bags.

POLITICO talked to more than a dozen college and university presidents, from small colleges to Ivy League universities and top public institutions, who expressed fear that they’re losing public and political support at an alarming rate.

The GOP’s tax plan is the clearest and most recent example of that backlash – and college presidents say it was a wake-up call.
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Polls show Republicans growing particularly critical of higher education — but Democrats, especially working-class Democrats, also may be losing faith.

One poll found as many as 58 percent of Republicans say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.
<snip>

Some leaders see the Republican tax plan as a particularly dangerous shot. Higher education, they fear, has become defined as a liberal constituency in a way that could continue to erode support at the federal and state levels. - Politico

Fox News, RW media, conservatism, the GOP, Drumpf, nonstop delegitimizing propaganda, etc... Any questions.

Do we want our universities to offer a broad minded scope of learning or one tailored to the conservative model?
lib·er·al (lĭb′ər-əl, lĭb′rəl)
adj.
1.
a. Favoring reform, open to new ideas, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; not bound by traditional thinking; broad-minded. See Synonyms at broad-minded.

broad-minded
adj
1. tolerant of opposing viewpoints; not prejudiced; liberal
2. not easily shocked

[Sanity Claws]

1. Their out of control tuition increases are the real problem

It is far more than a branding issue. It is a fact that low- and middle-income students are reassessing whether the high costs of higher education are worth it. Of course, the wealthy don't have to engage in balancing of costs versus benefits of higher education because they don't have to take out student loans that are not-dischargeable regardless of circumstances.

[exboyfil]

2. I think the rush to credentialization and watering down of

standards also has something to do with it as well. A libertarian economist has written a book where an extract appeared in The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/whats-college-good-for/546590/

I would say at least 20% of public and private not for profit college and university places should be eliminated or retasked for a more vocational focus.

And it is true that the ROI on a large number of degrees doesn't add up. You also have to consider the risk of failure (loans with no credential to show for it).

The message should not have been free college for everyone in 2016. It should have been how do we get tuition down to 1976 levels where you had to work a minimum wage job 1/5th as long as you do today to pay public college tuition.