Off season question- Do we need college campus investment, or is it a waste of $?

[HarrisburgDave]

My daughter spent most of the last year of her undergrad experience taking her classes on line during the Covid scare.

My son earned his MBA and visited his college campus just a couple times.

I see advertisements on line all the time for schools like Arizona and Nebraska and their on line offerings.

What do you think the future (end of the decade) looks like regarding college attendance? Between trade jobs paying $125 K plus, and white collar employers picking up college expenses, are we going to see the end of 50,000 student campuses much sooner than later?

 

[psuro]

I recently met a faculty member at Temple University, and asked him the same question. His response (biased of course) - "Yes, because part of being on a campus is learning to work in society. Society cannot sustain itself if everyone is isolated".

I am sure you disagree but that was his answer.

 

[Blair10]

My daughter spent most of the last year of her undergrad experience taking her classes on line during the Covid scare.

My son earned his MBA and visited his college campus just a couple times.

I see advertisements on line all the time for schools like Arizona and Nebraska and their on line offerings.

What do you think the future (end of the decade) looks like regarding college attendance? Between trade jobs paying $125 K plus, and white collar employers picking up college expenses, are we going to see the end of 50,000 student campuses much sooner than later?

No offense, an “on-line” degree experience is not quite the same as being on campus, engaging and collaborating with your classmates and academic community.

The Covid period was an exception (once in a lifetime).

Not only will large student campuses continue to thrive, investments in campus facilities will continue to grow.

 

[Keyser Soze 16802]

U Park will be fine....big schools with great experiences for students are well positioned

Many branch campuses will need to be shut down and given to local govts. Only question is whether the administration has the guts to do this in the relative short term or will they ignore the obvious and make it the next team's problem. I know what I'd bet on...

 

[psuro]

U Park will be fine....big schools with great experiences for students are well positioned

Many branch campuses will need to be shut down and given to local govts. Only question is whether the administration has the guts to do this in the relative short term or will they ignore the obvious and make it the next team's problem. I know what I'd bet on...

For Penn State, I have been a proponent of shutting down, or consolidating campuses that only serve a couple hundred students.

Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth campuses - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wilkes Barre is only service 363 students and the Scranton Campus is less than 32 miles away. Should be combined.
Beaver, Allegheny and New Kensington are all within a 1 hour drive of each other. Should be combined.
You could probably do that with a few others.

 

[Anon1711414549]

For Penn State, I have been a proponent of shutting down, or consolidating campuses that only serve a couple hundred students.

Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth campuses - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wilkes Barre is only service 363 students and the Scranton Campus is less than 32 miles away. Should be combined.
Beaver, Allegheny and New Kensington are all within a 1 hour drive of each other. Should be combined.
You could probably do that with a few others.

in Wisconsin multiple branch and regional campuses have already shut down, are reducing offerings or will shut down in next 2 years as state goes over population cliff of college age kids. PA similar. The robust state wide system built up during baby boom, not really needed now. In terms of teaching, while it is possible to get a degree remotely, ion person learning with and enthusiastic, motivated teacher can have many benefits above and beyond the mere transfer of didactic knowledge

 

[Nittany1865Farmer]

For Penn State, I have been a proponent of shutting down, or consolidating campuses that only serve a couple hundred students.

Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth campuses - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wilkes Barre is only service 363 students and the Scranton Campus is less than 32 miles away. Should be combined.
Beaver, Allegheny and New Kensington are all within a 1 hour drive of each other. Should be combined.
You could probably do that with a few others.

and Penn State Hazleton is only 37.5 mils from the Wilkes-Barre campus with an enrollment this year of 525 full and part time students. Three campuses which could be combined into one at Wilkes-Barre as the middle point.

 

[Nittany1865Farmer]

As to online learning - there are majors which just does not work well online. Anything in the liberal arts which require questions and discussions among students, such as philosophy, political science, theology, social studies and even world history and its impact: the Zoom platform is terrible to have frank discussions with each other. You need that interaction among one another to read the "cues" of debate and to formulate your next retort while listening to someone else's answer.

 

[psuro]

and Penn State Hazleton is only 37.5 mils from the Wilkes-Barre campus with an enrollment this year of 525 full and part time students. Three campuses which could be combined into one at Wilkes-Barre as the middle point.

yup

 

[DELion]

As to online learning - there are majors which just does not work well online. Anything in the liberal arts which require questions and discussions among students, such as philosophy, political science, theology, social studies and even world history and its impact: the Zoom platform is terrible to have frank discussions with each other. You need that interaction among one another to read the "cues" of debate and to formulate your next retort while listening to someone else's answer.

Engineering and science majors also benefit from in-person learning. How are you going to take lab classes on-line?

On-line learning rarely delivers the same academic quality as in-person. The question is whether the cost premium for in-person classes is worth the quality benefits. I think in general the answer is yes.

 

[MtNittany]

I wonder if a sold or abandoned branch campus of some state U (or an old "teachers college") somewhere has ever been turned into a private (not snooty private, but make money and cut fat private) school that has succeeded.

 

[baltimorened]

My daughter spent most of the last year of her undergrad experience taking her classes on line during the Covid scare.

My son earned his MBA and visited his college campus just a couple times.

I see advertisements on line all the time for schools like Arizona and Nebraska and their on line offerings.

What do you think the future (end of the decade) looks like regarding college attendance? Between trade jobs paying $125 K plus, and white collar employers picking up college expenses, are we going to see the end of 50,000 student campuses much sooner than later?

there are quite a few schools that I would call "hybrid"..the students are there on campus but about half of the classes are "virtual" I.e., on line.

 

[SleepyLion]

Engineering and science majors also benefit from in-person learning. How are you going to take lab classes on-line?

On-line learning rarely delivers the same academic quality as in-person. The question is whether the cost premium for in-person classes is worth the quality benefits. I think in general the answer is yes.

Lots of kids study (experiment with) chemistry and biology at home.