Why Do Colleges Still Have Physical Campuses?

By Chuck Meyers

In this era of life-long learning necessitated by the dramatic increases in the number and type of technological changes filtering down into the consumer mass market, it is incumbent upon us to re-examine the way we are teaching our college students. With the number of workers that for varying reasons have left the workforce, the demand for everything from trade - related plumbers, heating and cooling, (and auto) technicians to those even vaguely familiar with engineering-based 3D printing and CAD design is unprecedented. Many desperate employers will pay for or defray costs for required training for a simple commitment of a short tenure after graduation. Granted these traditional employs are not necessarily the dream of everybody but nearly everyone listed could easily translate into a business for the entrepreneurial - minded individual. No one is downplaying the importance of college but with so much learning taking place at non-traditional times and locations, it is mystifying why colleges have campuses at all as many have discovered the advantages and convenience of on-line learning and in some cases, lifelong learning for students and employees (Cambridge, Oxford, etc.) where a former student is able to access certain aspects (library, classroom, audit, school intranet) of the school. Going forward, the costs of simple upkeep of many of these learning institutions and their campuses (lighting, security, heating and cooling, grounds and parking maintenance, and staff) will render them purely non-competitive in an era of students gathering and work being performed on-line whenever convenient for the learner. Obviously, many exceptions exist as the American Bar Association for one does not allow or condone on-line learning as a rule as they prefer their future attorney candidates to argue their points “in person” (to emulate courtroom settings or being “face to face” with a client) plus certain other fields of study simply require hands – on learning e.g. vehicle testing, welding, culinary work, etc. It will be interesting to see what transpires as the decade progresses and traditional learning and ensuing technology continue to challenge the way learning is conducted even as costs for classes and maintaining campuses continue to escalate. What justification will there be for traditional college and university pricing as there are protests even now as both traditional and on-line classes are being priced identically? Stay tuned.