Looking At Colleges? There Are New Questions You Need To Ask

This is the time of year when students and their parents are trying to make decisions about which college will be the best fit for them. Yet few people know that institutions of higher education have been undergoing dramatic changes over the past few decades that have altered the basic structure of how they operate.

Universities used to be run by academics, altruistic believers in the power of education with first-hand experience in meeting the needs of students. As colleges devolved to adopt the corporate model, they added more levels of highly-paid administrators, brought on board to run the university like a business. In an effort to maximize profits, they made numerous changes. In many schools, professors were suddenly required to teach more classes, minimizing the time for research needed to keep them at the top of their field. More importantly, they stopped hiring full-time professors and began hiring adjunct professors. In general, adjuncts have exactly the same degrees, experience, and resumés as full-time professors, but they make a fraction of the pay, have no job security, and receive no benefits. Many adjunct faculty live below poverty level while shuttling back and forth between 2–3 schools, or holding down other part-time jobs. They make less than the janitors at their schools, but most of them are still paying off the student…