Four Low Tech Ways to Lower Tuition Fees by 10 to 30 Percent

Universities are in for a very tough decade ahead—they are increasingly perceived as a risky and overpriced value proposition, and the pool of potential new students is going to decline as a consequence of falling fertility. To make themselves more attractive, colleges need to become leaner, cheaper, and more relevant. There are several relatively simple things that could be done that would significantly lower costs and improve collegiate attractiveness and future viability.

In many cases, however, schools will go to their deaths not biting the bullet and making the big changes necessary, often because administrators won’t push necessary reforms, and/or governing boards fail to take the initiative to make that happen. Below I list four ways costs could be lowered materially, sometimes taking a few years before fully realizing savings.

Cut Administrative Staffs and Costs By At Least 20%

The business of universities is to teach and do research. That requires professors and some support personnel. It does not require umpteen associate provosts for international affairs, diversity, sustainability, student support, and so forth. A typical four year school today has more professional staff not teaching than those who do. Often at least one out of five of them are doing things that have nothing to do with creating or disseminating knowledge, and also are not self-financing positions (as many in, say university affiliated clinical facilities often are).

Ridding the campus of these individuals generally would not impact the quality or quantity of teaching or research. We don’t need sustainability gurus to tell us how to save the planet, or armies of inclusion specialists to tell us to respect fellow students and faculty and tolerate human differences. We don’t need umpteen PR individuals to brag about the school’s accomplishments—a few will do. College deans who used to have one or two assistants now usually have five or ten—they can go at least halfway back to the past, to maybe four assistants. The last time I checked, the University of Michigan had over 90 diversity administrators—couldn’t it get by with 10—or, arguably, zero?

Make Faculty Teach More and End Expensive Graduate Programs With Few Students

While the precise dimensions are unknown, teaching loads for American faculty have fallen significantly over time, ostensibly to promote research. While in some cases this may be justified, many faculty publish rather modestly in obscure journals that few read, and does little to enhance our cultural capital. Suppose a school needs 3,000 courses taught each semester, 2,000 by 1,000 faculty members with an average two course teaching load, and 1,000 by 500 adjacent (mostly part-time) faculty also averaging two classes taught each.

If average full-time faculty teaching loads rose to three courses, the school could get by with 333 fewer faculty (saving tens of millions of dollars annually), or it could eliminate all adjacent faculty teaching, or a combination of both—saving lots of money.

To make that happen, graduate programs with modest enrollments and reputations whose graduates seldom get good jobs would probably be eliminated—a plus for society.

Abandon Big-Time Athletic Aspirations

Many colleges and universities subsidize intercollegiate athletic competitions to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually. Commercially, it is unlikely the nation can support at a near break-even level more than a few dozen schools. Look at how college sports were done around 1950 and replicate it—fewer coaches, players and games, much lower salaries, etc. Require universities receiving huge incomes from television and related sources to “tax” their athletic operations heavily to help fund general academic operations. The Iron Law of Sports rules—every time someone wins a game, someone else loses.

Reduce Tuition Discounting

If sticker tuition prices are reduced materially (by over 10 %) because of the above actions, the amount of discounting fees from the listed price can fall a bit as well. Colleges can reduce their so-called scholarship aid without increasing student financial burdens, helping fund reductions in published fees.

University presidents like to be popular on campus, as that usually increases their income and job security. But the wishes of the campus community usually are inconsistent with the new market realities of higher education. Presidents, supported by trustees who previously were often toothless rubber stamps, should enact reforms such as those outlined above to promote institutional survival.

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Britain's University entrance system could be overhauled so students only apply AFTER they have their A-level grades

Britain has the weird system that students are admitted to university BEFORE their final High School marks are known.  Teachers give each student a "predicted" mark to go on with. The problems with that are obvious.  But change is at last in the air

The university entrance system could be overhauled so students only apply after they have their A-level grades. The higher education watchdog, The Office for Students (OfS), is to launch a major review later this year into the university admissions system.

It follows concern from ministers that universities have been engaging in “unethical” practises such as “pressure selling” unconditional offers to students.

While the OfS cannot dictate how individual universities make their offers, they are able to change the structures that govern the admissions system.

A review is likely to consider whether a post-qualifications admission system should be set up, where students only apply to university after receiving their A-levels.

This would remove the problem of institutions handing out unconditional offers which can lead to students slacking with their school work since they have a university place guaranteed.

It would also solve the solve the issue of unreliable predicted grades, where universities complain that teachers make unrealistic forecasts about what students are capable of achieving.

Ucas, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, previously attempted to instigate a move to a post-qualification system but dropped the idea in 2012.

At the time, university leaders claimed that the move would put too much pressure on admissions tutors by forcing them to consider hundreds of thousands of applications in just a few weeks over the summer.

But there is now growing concern about the misuse of unconditional offers, with the number rising sharply. Students are now 30 times more likely to receive one than five years ago.

Damian Hinds, the education secretary, said on Monday that he welcomes the review, adding that the rise in unconditional offers “may be symptomatic of wider issues within university admissions processes”.

In a letter to Sir Michael Barber, the chair of the OFS, he said: “There is a need to establish whether current admissions processes serve the best interests of students”.

The lifting of student number controls in England in 2015 gave universities free rein to recruit as many undergraduates as they see fit - but the move has led to accusations that they now act like businesses, seeking to maximise their revenue by recruiting as many students as possible.

Fierce competition has emerged between universities to attract students, with sixth form pupils now offered places regardless of their exam results.

Some institutions hand out “incentivised” offers, where they tell students that their offer will be unconditional but only if they accept it as their first choice university.

The universities watchdog has previously warned that applying “psychological pressure” or “creating an impression of urgency” in decision making could be a potential breach of consumer protection law.

The OfS published a report in January that examined the impact of unconditional offers on students’ decision making. It found that applicants who accept an unconditional offer are more likely to miss their predicted A-level grades by two or more grades.

Headteachers have been increasingly concerned about the impact that unconditional offers have on student motivation and achievement.

They have complained that students who are awarded unconditional offers “take their foot off the gas” because they are no longer concerned about their grades.

The regulator’s admissions review will be launched this autumn, and is due to be completed in 2020.

Universities UK has said it is working with Ucas to review guidance on unconditional offers.  “It is essential that admissions processes and policies are fair and transparent, underpinned by clear criteria and in the best interest of students,” they said.

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International Enrollments Could Surpass Domestic Enrollments at The University of Melbourne by 2020

This is very good news.  Education is now one of Australia's biggest exports.  Australia has many universities so capacity is  virtually unlimited.  The money we send to China to pay for electrical goods and much else is coming back to us to pay for the education of young people from rich Chinese families.  It's a win/win

International students come as they please in Australia. With no cap in place, the number of full-fee paying international students studying in Australia continues to grow in spite of the rapidly-rising tuition costs they face.

Many believe 2019 will be the year Australia overtakes the UK as the second-largest destination country for international students and sit behind the United States.

Last year, AU$32 billion was pumped into the Australian economy from foreign students alone.

On average, international students are Australia’s second-leading revenue source after government grants in the higher education sector.

In this report, we use the University of Melbourne as a case study for international tuition and student enrollment trends as they relate to domestic student trends and inflation.

Case Study - University of Melbourne International Student Trends
The University of Melbourne places 32nd in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and ranks fourth as one of the leading recipients of international students in Australia.

In 2014, international students represented 31 per cent of the University of Melbourne student population. In a matter of four years, that percentage rose to 46 per cent.

International vs domestic student enrollments at UniMelb from 2014 to 2018.

In the University of Melbourne's annual report for 2018, it was reported to be 42.1% in 2018, yet their international load to their total student load, when calculated, indicates its 45.81%.

In other words, the percentage of foreign students comprising of the overall amount of students enrolled grew despite the school having increased their overall enrollments every year from 2014 to 2018.

What this suggests is that international students are enrolling at the University of Melbourne at a far greater pace than domestic students.

In reality, domestic enrollments has not only slowed, but declined since 2014. In 2014 there were 29,437 domestic enrollments. In 2018 there were 28,579.

If the present course remains unchanged, there could be more international students enrolled than domestic students by 2020.
Total enrollment of international students has gone from 13,200 to 24,166 in the period from 2014 to 2018. That is, the percentage of international students enrolled at the University of Melbourne has increased by 83.07 per cent in a matter of four years.

With no cap in place for international student enrollment at the University of Melbourne, international students will continue to eat away at the student population proportion.

In 2018, 4178 new international students enrolled in 2018. That makes last year the largest intake of international students ever by the University of Melbourne.

As more foreign students come to study at the University of Melbourne every year, their tuition continues to increase along with it.

International tuition fee increases year over year at the University of Melbourne from 2015 to 2019.

On average, international tuition fees have increased by 4.5 per cent every year from 2015 to 2019.

For students in the Bachelor of Commerce program, international tuition fees were $33,760 (lower bounds) in 2015. To study in the Bachelor of Commerce program in 2019, it costs international students $40,216 - a 19.12 per cent increase in four years.

The bachelor of commerce program is the primary field of study for international students at the University of Melbourne. In 2017, more than one-third of foreign students chose this program.

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