This feels like a good time to re-up my most shared thing ever. There is a lot higher ed can learn from to survive this moment and come out stronger. Take a look through it and come back for some specifics: https://twitter.com/JeremyLittau/status/1088503510184927233

First, we need to understand the current moment isn’t isolated. We know there was a demographic bomb coming about 2025, with shrinking demand amidst high supply of classroom seats. The COVID financial crisis is an accelerant, not a catalyst.

This is not unlike the aging newspaper audience. A lot of what’s happening in higher ed has been about trying to maximize intake from people who can pay full tuition at a time when the market favors students amid shrinking demand.

So what we see is the ability to capture as much as possible in paying tuition, and that in a way keeps some institutions from pivoting toward a more sustainable model.

Some schools are not going to survive this because they’re going to place the wrong bets.

Flowing from that, second: We need to recognize that while what as profs think of what we do is mission-oriented, the shift toward professionalization in the university run by MBAs has pushed just toward treating education as a commodity.

But the problem with that is you then face the problems all commodities face. What happens when technology disrupts what you sell?

Universities sell access to information in ways that mirror the news. I can hear some of you cringing. I don’t think of this as our mission. Never thought of news that way either. But it’s the business model.

Because of that: Third, if the problems in higher ed are the same as what we faced in news, the road not take in the news industry collapse gives us guidance. We need to invest in the valuable things we do. We can’t cut our way to growth.

Questions we need to ask ourselves include:

• What differentiates us as an educational institution?
• What differentiates us from higher ed peers as we compete for a shrinking pool of students?
• What do our students and society need from us?

Double down on those things.

What are we doing that is excellent and meeting the needs of the global community? How is our work transformative? We are looking for both those things - transformation and impact. I don’t want to monetize anything, but if the MBAs are gonna make us, that’s a good place to start.

To that end, I’m distressed to see where the cuts are coming at some places. Ohio U, for example, is gutting cultural studies to make up for budget losses.

Tell me, as the world is burning due to racial injustice, why that is a good thing? How does it meet society’s needs?

The phrase mentors used to talk about the collapse of news is the lack of investment was the equivalent of eating your own seed corn.

Cutting mission critical disciplines with “lol philosophy doesn’t pay the bills” (even though it does!) is nonsensical. It helps nobody.

So I’m hopeful in this time of transition that, yes, cuts are needed in the time of COVID. But we can’t use this to cut critical things that we do, things nobody else does. That’s our competitive advantage - a wholistic education that creates good (or better, at least) citizens.

For years, newspapers cut out of fear. Fear of stockholders and slightly lower profit margins. It led to devastating lack of investment in strength areas that could help them grow.

Universities are facing that moment right now. The demographic bomb looms. We have to be wiser.

We can’t count on an external force to save us. Lower demand means we will be getting less paying full fare.

States have been gutting funding for decades to pay for tax cuts.

We’ve relied on international students to balance the books, and now xenophobia has consequences.

It is a challenging time that requires imagination, but it has to start with us investing in what we value.

The most important thing we have to preserve is access. Higher ed cannot be a luxury item only the rich and white can afford. It creates a lesser educational experience for everyone, and it also hides behind walls the knowledge we need to create a better and more just world.

So, yeah, not thrilled I’m getting a pay cut today. But as I said in another thread, I’m practical. If we can keep the institution solvent and make choices that align with our values, do them transparently and equitably, I’ll consider that an investment in all of us.