Jay Sawyer of Northbrook Discusses If the Future of College Is Online Talking about how the coronavirus led to a shift to virtual classes, Jay Sawyer of Northbrook asks if the future of college is online. He notes that around forty years ago, going to college in the US was a reliable pathway for upward mobility, and today, it has become yet another 21st century symbol of privilege for the wealthy. Through the period of pandemic, tuition fees has increased by 260%, which double the rate of inflation. Back in 2019, the average cost of attending a 4-year private college was over $200, 000 and for a 4-year public college, it was $100, 000. Jay Sawyer of Northbrook says that in order to sustain these prices, more students are now admitted from the top 1% of the income scale than the entire bottom 40% at the top 80 colleges. Besides that, Universities have also opened the floodgates to wealthy international students who are willing to pay full tuition for the American brand. However, as America has become the epicenter of the pandemic, many students are looking to defer enrollment. International students doubt if they should register at all, due to greater uncertainty around visas and work prospects. Also, the “Trump Effect� had already begun to cause declining International student enrollment over the past 3 years.
According to Jay Sawyer of Northbrook, all these factors have led to some of the country’s top institutions to make some solid changes in how they would proceed further. Harvard, for instance, recently announced drastic steps for managing the fallout, such as hiring freezes, salary cuts, and cuts in discretionary spending. Sawyer believes that Universities are nervous that if they continue with online teaching, students will demand at least a partial remission of tuition. However, Jay Sawyer also says that if Universities embrace this moment strategically, online education could expand access exponentially and drop its cost by magnitudes, while resulting in higher revenues for them in a way that’s more recessionproof, policy-proof, and pandemic-proof.