Further thoughts on the higher education bubble

[Valin]

Washington Examiner :

Glenn H. Reynolds
8/6/10

Back at the beginning of the summer, I had a column in this space in which I predicted that higher education is in a bubble, one soon to burst with considerable consequences for students, faculty, employers, and society at large.

My reasoning was simple enough: Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. And the past decades’ history of tuition growing much faster than the rate of inflation, with students and parents making up the difference via easy credit, is something that can’t go on forever. Thus my prediction that it won’t.

But then what? Assume that I’m right, and that higher education - both undergraduate and graduate, and including professional education like the law schools in which I teach - is heading for a major correction. What will that mean? What should people do?


(Snip)

Finally, for the entrepreneurs out there, this bubble-bursting may be an opportunity. One of the underpinnings of higher education is its value as a credential to employers: A college degree demonstrates, at least, moderate intelligence - and, more importantly, the ability to show up and perform on a reasonably reliable basis, something that is of considerable interest when hiring people, a surprisingly large number of whom do neither.

But a college degree is an expensive way to get an entry-level credential. New approaches to credentialing, approaches that inform employers more reliably, while costing less than a college degree, are likely to become increasingly appealing over the coming decade.

Those who find a way to provide them will do well. So to any entrepreneurs reading this: Good luck. And after the bubble bursts, and you get rich, please do what you can for a poor law professor . . . . .

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee. He hosts “InstaVision” on PJTV.com and is the author of the Instapundit blog of longstanding fame.