With President-elect Donald Trump back in Washington, D.C., there is a new sheriff in town and the leaders in our higher education systems have been put on notice.
Last week’s presidential election sent a clear message to university presidents sitting in their ivory towers: It is time for decisive reform in higher education. But, not by choice. Bureaucrats and lifetime academics had plenty of time to choose to reform higher education. Now, reform will be executed by a mandate given to Trump and Republican leaders by the American people.
Trump released a video with his 10-point plan for how he will begin work on day one reforming our education system and then he released another video specifically about his intentions to reform our higher education system. This is music to the ears of anyone who wants to see major reforms that are desperately needed.
This mandate reflects growing discontent with the current state of our universities, which increasingly seem to prioritize ideological agendas over practical skills and job-readiness training.
Too many graduates today face crushing student debt while lacking the skills necessary for today’s workforce. The new administration, from the presidency to the Senate and House, now has an opportunity to reshape the landscape of American higher education, aligning it with the needs of students, families and our economy as a whole.
We cannot ignore any longer that the financial burden of college has spiraled out of control. Between 1980 and 2020, the cost of tuition, fees, room, and board at public universities rose by 180% after adjusting for inflation.
The average annual cost for in-state students at public universities now exceeds $22,000, while private institutions often charge over $50,000 per year. This financial strain has left American students collectively burdened with $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.
If I could make one suggestion to Trump, I would suggest that he establish a core focus on affordability and job-readiness in his higher education policy because it could ensure that students graduate with skills that meet real-world workforce demands. This is what will continue to make our nation competitive on the world stage.
Rather than funneling resources into administrative bloat and ideologically-driven initiatives, we need policies that prioritize practical, career-oriented education. Trump’s administration can work with states and university boards to adopt funding structures that limit the annual tuition increases and support universities that align their programs with market needs.
Also, the expanding influence of costly administrative offices like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs has also contributed to tuition increases. These programs often drain university budgets and force students to pay more for an education that may not serve their career goals.
For instance, the University of Michigan employs over 160 DEI-related staff members, many earning six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, most universities have little to no funding set aside for training students on how to get hired outside of academia.
A major part of any effective reform would also involve refocusing university curricula on in-demand skills in fields such as data science, programming, engineering, artificial intelligence and analytics. Surveys of employers reveal that today’s graduates often lack essential competencies such as problem-solving, communication and critical thinking skills.
A 2021 survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, for example, showed that few employers felt that recent graduates were well-prepared in these critical areas.
Reforms could also target the lack of job training for graduate students, who frequently lack the support needed to enter the workforce successfully.
A generation of graduates who lack the skills to thrive impacts not only individual financial independence but also the productivity and competitiveness of the entire U.S. economy. The new administration should establish policies that ensure universities contribute to our national economic strength by graduating students ready to succeed in high-skill roles.
It is my belief that one of the major reasons for this past week’s election results is that voters want academia overhauled. Parents do not want to pay tens of thousands of dollars per year to send their kids to schools that are more concerned about activism than skills training.
Would-be students do not want to be burdened with debt for a degree they are never going to use. Businesses are tired of sifting through thousands of applications to finally find a job candidate who actually knows how to write a resume and who has the required skills. Higher education reform is not just a priority for today’s students and families — it is essential to our country’s economic future.
Trump has the chance to restore the promise of higher education and make it a force for economic prosperity. Now, with a clear mandate for reform, it is time to refocus our universities on educating students in high-value skills that will serve not only individual opportunity but also economic success.
The stakes have never been higher and now with a change agent in Trump, many of us are hopeful these changes will finally come! It is time to shift from ideological agendas to policies that prepare students for productive lives and support America’s future economic strength.
Dr. Isaiah Hankel is the author of 3X Best-Selling Books, including The Power of a PhD. He can be reached at and found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaiahhankel/
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