According to Art and Science Group, a “higher education consulting
firm” based out of Baltimore, the University
of Virginia (UVA) is allowing many of its competitors to overtake its once
laudable status as a “Public Ivy”.
According to Benjamin G. Edwards of Art and Science Group, “The
characterization that we heard from a number of people goes something like
this: ‘U-Va. is a wonderful, important, premier place, but it doesn’t feel as
driven as others.”
But for overly wealthy Virginians concerned about the waning
luster of their school (I kid graduates of UVA!), there is no need to panic, President
Teresa A. Sullivan has a plan, a long
term plan to be exact.
As is fairly well known among individuals who stay up on
trends in higher education, a number of different factors have coalesced in the
U.S. to put financial pressure on universities throughout the country.
Whether it’s the sickening advent of ‘online learning’, the steep
costs of obtaining a higher education degree, or the lack of motivation
shown by a generation who have seen politicians waste away a better chance for
a brighter future, traditional American universities have seen a drop in the number
of students passing through their halls. For instance, who wants to be mounted
with debt, working at a 9-5 job that may or may not be rewarding, for the next
30 or 40 years of their lives (if not more)? That doesn’t sound too appealing
to many young folks these days and I don’t blame them.
It’s hardly time for UVA and its alumni to go into panic
mode, however. Online learning may prove a fluke, America’s economic situation
may sharply brighten, America’s politicians may finally remember their “I’m not
an idiot” pill, and America’s youth may once again find the enjoyment of
earning a degree in higher education at traditional institutions of higher
education. President Sullivan may also prove to be the right person, in the
right place, at the right time to pull UVA out of its lull.
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