Keynote presentation at NYSACAC at Ithaca College, June 2012

1. the value gap
Jeff Selingo
June 2012

5. 2012

6. 1995
2012
2029

7. 1999-2009
A decade of More

8. More
Students,
More
Degrees
Number of
students
up by 1/3
since late
1990s
Source: U.S. Education Department

9. 2 in 5 titles on government list of academic
programs didn’t appear on it in 1990
21% increase in titles since 2000
More Credentials

10. More Tuition
In 2003, only 2
colleges charged
more than $40K
By 2009, 224
passed that
mark. Another
58 passed $50K
Source: The College Board

11. More Debt
$277,000,000,000
Amount of debt
taken on by
colleges, which has
doubled just since
2001
Source: The College Board

12. Students were willing to go to any college and
pay almost anything for a degree
Why?

13. Answer: Degree Premium
Source: The College Board

14. Degree premium has dropped since 2008 but still
better to be a college grad than a high school grad
Source: The College Board Unemployment Rates Among Individuals Ages 25 and Older, by Education Level, 1992–2009

15. 2008
a shifting paradigm in debate
over the cost of college

16. Enough is enough
Families could no longer use their homes as ATMs

17. no home squeezed federal more out
equity states deficits of pocket

18. A shift from talking about price
to asking about value

19. What am I paying for?
Rate the job the higher-education system is
doing in providing value
for the money spent?
57% of public says fair/poor
76% of college presidents say excellent/good
Source: Pew Research Center/The Chronicle

20. 1 in 3
Number of presidents who said there is
no one single effective measure to judge
the quality of a college degree
Source: Pew Research Center/The Chronicle

21. How and what will I
learn ?
Will I get a job ?
Will I make enough
money to pay off my debt
?

22. How and what will I learn?
36%
Reading and writing
Field of study matters

23. Will I get a job?
Source: Georgetown U. Center for Education &
Workforce

24. Will I make enough money to
pay off my debt?

25. 1999-2009
A lost decade

26. Keys to Disrupting Legacy Industries
Hubris
Skepticism of anything new
Unwilling to hear opposing viewpoints

28. “The only really necessary people in the publishing process
now are the writer and the reader.
Everyone who stands between those two
has both risk and opportunity”
-Larry Kirshbaum
Head of Amazon’s NY Publishing Unit

31. Key Question:
What are the less tangible aspects
that define your college experience
that can’t be easily be replaced
by fragmented, simplified services
on the Internet?

32. The Coming Disruption
Most at Risk Least at Risk
Commodity courses The “experience”
The network Maturing students
The credential The student/professor
relationship

34. “The Internet will stay around, but whether
it will become a significant commercial
force is questionable. I don’t picture the
Web replacing television or newspaper
advertising in the next decade.”
– Peter Krivkovich,
president of Cramer-Krasselt
July 12, 1995

35. Coming in Spring 2013:
College (Un)Bound jeff@selingo.com
The Future of Higher
twitter: @jselingo
Education and What It
Means for Students jeffselingo.com