This is not very surprising. They face the same vexing problems every MAC school does, but they compounded them with their commitment to hockey, which adds a lot of expense while sapping resources from hoops and football. All that money and effort helped ruin the last decade or so of Miami basketball while driving up costs and delivering one blown national championship game. Did I mention that the MAC doesn't even compete in hockey?

So this begs a legitimate question. What is it that people hold so dear - their time inside the hallowed walls of OU or their time outside of those walls living in Athens? I would say it's the latter and if so, is it really worth $103,776 to have that experience? Cue the Richard Vedder music.

Not having taken an online class, I don't have an informed opinion about that. Having been involved in education for 40+ years, I"m biased and not a fan of the online model. The human factor in the student teacher relationship is a big one for me. As for the college experience, that's been a big part of the sales pitch from colleges for years and I have to admit, in looking back at my four years at Muskingum I had the time of my life. That said, I place much greater value on the in the classroom experiences (which also ncluded out of classroom academic experiences) than I do on the social aspect of the experience even considering I still have friends from those four years plus the two as a dorm director at OU.

I certainly think the overall college experience matters, but schools have to be realistic and balance spending with resources. The worst case in Ohio has clearly been Akron where they literally rebuilt the campus and tacked on an expensive new football stadium thinking that "if you build it, they will come." Well, they aren't coming. Miami has also been guilty of this in attempting to match infinitely richer (Big Ten & private) universities in building luxury dorms and student amenities to drive enrollment. I'd have to look closer at their numbers, but I'm sure that's a large contributing factor to their bubble bursting. And the idea (driven no doubt by their legendary hubris and delusional self-image) that they could charge 40% more tuition to an Ohio kid than Ohio State and still compete with OSU is mind boggling.

Interesting. The things you can learn on BA!

I am usually the glass is more than half full type of guy about things. However, the world of Higher Education is in a world of hurt and they know it, especially in parts of the country like ours where because of the history of the Northwest territories and the building of many college and universities, we have more per capita than just about any other state. Add to this a declining birth rate which shows no signs of improving any time soon, and you have some real problems brewing. These silly brick and mortar projects seem more like a cry for help than a real solution to the problems staring right in front of us.

You might recall that in past posts I mentioned a guy in the neighborhood who is a big pooh bah in the world of Higher Ed and has worked at Columbus State, Ohio State etc. He told me that before the economic downturn of 2008, few respected universities and colleges would give Columbus State the time of day, let alone accept their course work toward the completion of a degree. Now they roll out the red carpet for students to transfer over and willingly accept all of their courses toward the completion of a degree.

As the economy continues to heat up, more students will see that good paying jobs like plumbers and electricians don't necessarily need four year degrees. Honda pilots a program at Columbus State where students go to Columbus State and Honda for two years and eventually become engineers at Honda without the need of a four degree, modeling what is often seen in Japan and Europe. As student debt increases for those students who can't seem to find a high paying job, because they majored in some under or unemployable major, a four year degree will seem like failed promise to them. I think the world of Higher Education and it's cost is unsustainable as we see it now. The smart folks in the Higher Ed world are adjusting accordingly.

It seems to be underway already with small liberal arts type schools closing first.

Are those REAL higher education institutions? The for-profits leading the way to crush kids into student loan debt can't die fast enough.

Here's another interesting link on the number of colleges.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/306880/us-higher-educ... /

in this case, our government will have a lot more trouble passing off blame onto the private sector.

The federal government and state government institutions are corrupt and should squarely take the blame for this. They do not care about the people.

If the little schools are doomed, what are we looking at for the mid-size public universities? Consolidation? Ohio State gobbling up the assets of these schools at bargain prices for more feeder satellite schools? Or do they just wither and die? A place like the University of Akron just seems too big to lie fallow.

My great hope is we could use them to create national service academies, places based on the military model for general public service. It's long overdue and probably a better use than churning out general studies grads at $25,000 a year cost.

Ohio at least under the last two presidents has tried to get ahead of the curve by offering a tuition guarantee, merit aid, under representative scholarships, opening up to non-traditional students, satellite campuses ect. It was Glidden who was quoted one time in the local papers that families might think OU was worth more if we charged more like Miami. Tuition during his tenure was up 7 percent a year. Ohio State hot off good years in football has decided to grow its traditional freshman enrollment. They aren't willing to give tuition discounts for those with ACT scores under 30. Ohio starts the in-state discount at ACT 25 and the out-of-state at ACT 22. Miami has the tuition issues and at #96 in the USWNR is about to drop out of the Top 100. Ohio State is beginning to backslide at #56. Ohio doesn't have any real skin in rankings game to lose and more accessible, affordable to the average Ohio graduate.