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Our higher education prospect continues to be grim with alarming news aired every few days. As far as our miserable job prospects and skyrocketing tuition are concerned there is more startling news.
Law School Admission Council statistics show that there is a fifty per cent decline in the number of applications for fall 2013 as compared to the year 2004. This clearly indicates our legal academia’s miserable performance and insipid business model.

Law schools have invested massively in administrators, faculty and buildings that are not fully utilized. This investment is in keeping with what is defined by the American Bar Association, the accrediting body.

Backed by their confidence that their ticket to high paying jobs is certainly law school, students’ paid huge tuition with borrowed money even as the law schools burdened them with the costs. Now, there is considerable trouble for the “value proposition” of the debt-driven law school even as jobs are becoming scarce.

This is a hugely disturbing trend not only for the future of our legal profession but also for all our universities and colleges. This is because law school model is nothing but an extension of our higher education system. Law schools are experiencing a downward spiral right now. If our universities and colleges are unable to take drastic measures to control costs, they would experience the same spiral very soon.

A vibrant education sector is absolutely necessary to develop a productive workforce four our nation. We may get along with a few less lawyers but cannot do anything without an educated workforce.
Our universities and colleges are busy facing the harsh realities. There is an overall grim outlook for our education system with Moody’s Investors Service issuing a grim outlook.

According to the report, there is increased reluctance on the part of students and parents to pay phenomenally high tuition incurring debts. Colleges are reeling under severe state budget cutbacks that further contribute to the crisis.

Another reason why our educational institutions are floundering is the rise of online learning platform. Many are choosing this alternative for obvious reasons. According to Moody’s report, colleges still hold a value and many still feel that college education is imperative for personal and professional growth.

They are right too as graduates produced by four-year institutions find work faster and earn better than their peers who are not as educated as them. Only a small percentage of our population seems to be saddles with a lot of student debt. There is a lot of scepticism regarding perception of our public towards cost of college and benefits in today’s stagnant economy.

Holding the line on tuition is one of the best ways educational institutions can regain confidence of customers. The only way to do this is to bring tuition under control which in turn is possible only by cutting costs.

A major problem till now has been that most of our institutions focus not on structural reform but only on one-time fixes. Education business model’s entrenched cost drivers such as lavish student amenities, inefficient instruction in classrooms and heavy involvement of faculty in the governance must first be addressed, says Moody’s.