Sunday, January 05, 2020

The Demand Side for College as a Luxury Consumer Good

"Colleges are now “ranked” not only by their academic status, but also by whether they are a “party school” and/or whether they have good looking students (these typically go hand in hand). One would think that a college administrator would be aghast at seeing his institution ranked high in a list of “party schools.” And yet the entrepreneurial administrator can secure more applications—and ultimately more revenue—via a “work hard/party hard” school brand. (This moniker is acceptable to both parents and students—see the Duke students pictured below)."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

While there is some truth to the 'luxury good' claim, the percentage of the population that can truly afford it in that context is far too small.

If college really is a 'luxury good' then there only need to be 50 Universities in the US.

Anonymous said...

He basically said in his conclusion that high IQ men without the requisite piece of paper with which to signal are doomed in corporate America, and used Edward Snowden as his rough example. I tend to agree on that point, although with enough practice, any nonconformist can pass being normie for a long enough time to glean necessary information. This is what espionage surmounts to. Go in, get your private sector experience, then quit once you have a good foundation of side biz income to fall back on. No need for the diploma, although it won't hurt. So long as you stayed debt free.

A Texan said...

https://www.educationdive.com/news/how-many-colleges-and-universities-have-closed-since-2016/539379/

Kraemer said...

Doesn't matter. Colleges want the rich party kids. Particularly the Out-of-state ones. Local kids who did Gen-eds at community college and geniuses who get scholarships don't bring in any money. Also rich parents buy literally thousands of dollars of merch

Tucanae Services said...

Pretty much universities with the hallowed halls and ivy covered walls will dwindle to a few. I fully expect over time we will see some of the ivy league institutions fall. Not all but a few that no one expected.

The action is in online topic education. They don't even offer degrees, just a knowledge base in dejure topics with value in one form or another. Many businesses are going this route rather than dedicated training staff.

Anonymous said...

The linked piece mentions universities making courses available online for free. I think he is incorrect for most institutions. What I've been seeing is (1) course material is available for you to view for free, but it does not count toward any credits, or (2) online courses for credit are available, but cost just as much as attending classes in person.

Be warned. Looking at (say) MIT's engineering and science course materials counts for nothing. It's all there for self-study, nothing more.