Public Mission of State Colleges Is Endangered by Increasing Competition and Privatiz

Public Mission of State Colleges Is Endangered by Increasing Competition and Privatization, Report Says

From the Chronicle on Higher Education Wednesday, February 16, 2005

http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/02/2005021603n.htm


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The full text of the report is available on the Futures Project's Web site:


http://www.futuresproject.org/publications/Correcting_Course.pdf

In part:

Lara Couturier, one of the authors of the report, said in an interview that several trends -- including increasing competiton from for-profit and online institutions -- have led to increasing autonomy for state universities and a market-based education system.


The changes mean that universities are competing for two types of students: those who will increase an institution's ranking in U.S. News & World Report and those who can pay the full cost of their education.

In the process, Ms. Couturier said, state universities are sacrificing their public purposes, like providing need-based aid and conducting research free from corporate influence.

"We need to help states stop and have this conversation about what we want from higher education," she said.