Originally Posted by
JoshInKC
Before I jump into the deep end, I'd like to re-emphasize that the majority of these issues are rooted in and reactions to states cutting university funding across the nation. It's not that they suddenly got greedy, but were rather backed into the corner.
So why do they need students on campus? It largely comes down to big universities being low-key terrified of community colleges. Big schools make huge proportions of their money on first and second year students as they are often required to live on campus and not only do they pay the school rent - they buy the meal plans, actually purchase their overpriced books new at the on-campus bookstore, etc. Juniors and seniors don't do nearly as much of this stuff- plus, there are inherently fewer of them.
Studies indicate that students generally perceive that there's pretty much no difference between an amazing professor teaching online and a crappy one*. Further, most of time your intro courses aren't going to be taught by the amazing, famous-y professors anyway. Therefore, maybe a community college is a better bet if it's 1/3 the price per credit hour.
So if students aren't getting better educations at big universities, what else is drawing them? The main thing is your classic "College experience" - live in a dorm, rush a fraternity, get drunk/high, get into tie-dye, join a competitive hacky-sack team, hang out with cool grad students, etc. This is a big part of why schools have spent the past 15 years or so investing absolutely ridiculous amounts of money on "student amenities" - Dorms with rock-climbing walls, spas, movie theaters, and rooms that are frankly luxurious compared to in the past. And you can't get most of that stuff at a CC or any of that stuff if you're taking classes online in your parents basement in the pandemic. This focus on the "on-campus experience" has resulted in two major things - a low-key arms race between schools, and schools being massively invested in real estate/infrastructure which is beyond completely useless if they can't put students in them.
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