There has been an increase in attacks on, and concerns about, higher education in recent years, as federal funding has decreased, investigations have skyrocketed, and the general public consensus on higher ed has soured. At the same time, however, applications to top colleges remain as competitive as ever, which is giving schools somewhat mixed messages. In order to get to the bottom of this, Yale commissioned a report on why and how people trust higher education, or more often increasingly, do not. This was carried out by Yale faculty, who came to a number of grim conclusions, and had their own suite of recommendations for the future of Yale and other elite colleges. In this article, we’re going to go through what this report said, and more importantly, how it may reshape the admissions landscape for you.
Inside the Yale Report
The Yale report has three key findings, all of which are currently damaging the public perception of and trust in higher education:
- That there is a sense that college has gotten too expensive, and that what students are paying for is no longer worth the money.
- That the admissions system is too opaque, and that it is perceived to be unfair, with too many questions around who gets in and why.
- That there are concerns about the potential for bias on college campuses, both for what is taught, and for self-censorship.
In addition to these external concerns, the report also found growing disquiet within academia itself, surrounding the role of technology in the classroom, grade inflation, and the ever expanding bureaucracy associated with higher education.
They go into great detail on all of these, but their findings in many ways echo concerns we hear from students and parents every day in our work as counselors. College is very expensive, admissions doesn’t make much sense (indeed, our job is to help explain it), and there are growing stories about what can and can’t be said on campuses, though how much is reality and how much is political bloviating is another concern. At the same time, we understand the collegiate concerns, we too are seeing the disruptive effects of technology, and the perils of grade inflation.
Yale has also identified what they believe is the core cause of all of these issues, the underlying fault: that colleges are trying to be all things to all people, and in trying to do so, are portraying themselves in all ways at once, creating a fundamental uncertainty in what their mission actually is and what they’re trying to do.
While this problem isn’t unique to higher education, it is a unique vulnerability for them. The reason a Harvard degree matters so much is that everyone believes it does. Once you stop believing in it, then it isn’t, even if nothing else at the school changes. As the report explores, however, there are no easy solutions to the problems they have identified.
How to Restore Trust in Colleges
This problem is multi-pronged, and the report represents this by proposing twenty interlocked by separate solutions. Some of these are concrete policy changes, while others are a shift in meaning or values, changes to the way things are done or emphasized on campus. Of course, a problem like this isn’t going to have easy solutions, and you should beware anyone who says it will; this opens the question of what colleges are going to do about it however.
The proposals in the Yale report boil down to three key planks:
- Increase institutional transparency. A lot of the problems boil down to people being wary of what they don’t know or don’t understand, and by enabling this understanding, Yale can begin mending this trust.
- Refocus on the academic mission. Colleges exist to create and share knowledge, all else is secondary. As time has passed, however, those secondary concerns have grown in importance; the report suggests recentering the core mission, and making sure the university is in line with what it set out to do originally.
- Emphasize the freedom of speech, expression, dialogue, and academic exploration. This is the most ambitious and most challenging, as all sides report concerns for freedom on campuses. This must be addressed, however, for the public trust to be restored.
These are hardly highly prescriptive, with few real ideas on what specifically universities can or will change. They are also looking primarily at Yale (though the affairs of higher education as a whole are considered), a school which stands apart from its fellows in any number of ways, big and small.
So What’s Going to Change?
These are just suggestions, and are aimed at only a single school. That said, Yale is a somewhat influential school, and you can be sure other Ivy League schools are monitoring the situation closely, to see if the changes implemented by Yale may also be beneficial for them to enact.
While we aren’t able to know for sure what actual changes Yale is going to make, here’s the ones we expect, and some thoughts on how effective they will be.
The first change is going to be one of cost transparency. This is a very big problem for most colleges, as the convoluted financial aid practices mean that the sticker price isn’t paid by many students at all, but still creates a big shock and turnoff for parents and students. Now, Yale has very generous financial aid already, so this is likely just going to be a messaging change, something theoretically simple, but difficult to make sure it is heard and interpreted in the right way. As this is something colleges have been trying to do for some time, unless Yale strikes upon a bold new strategy, we doubt anything will change.
The next change is admissions transparency. This has been a hot talking point for some time, between the Supreme Court case which ended affirmative action, and the ongoing concerns over how colleges actually evaluate applicants. Now, colleges are always going to be opaque about this to some degree; it’s impolite to students to publish a list of exactly why each rejected student was rejected. Instead, they’ll likely try to be clearer about what they look for in applicants, and emphasize the traits they look for in students.
Finally, we anticipate a further emphasis on free speech protections. Now, Yale has been a major supporter of free speech for some time, and it is hardly alone in this. The issue here, as with so many others, is not the actual policies Yale has in place, but the perception, both within and without, that Yale does not protect free speech on campus. We expect a number of bold but vacuous statements from Yale’s administration affirming their support for free speech, along with some minor policy changes.
The commonality of all of these is that Yale is likely to change very little in terms of actual practices, but instead focus on messaging. This is unsurprising, as the major problem they’re having is one of perception. It matters little what the reality of the situation is if everyone perceives the same thing to be true. The success of this messaging, of course, remains to be seen.
How Will This Impact You?
Overall, this report, and any changes it inspires, is likely to have only a limited impact on students. The biggest possible change, and biggest benefit for applicants, is an increase in transparency. The questions we get from students the most all reflect the fact that college admissions is opaque, confusing, and ill-explained by colleges themselves. Any steps taken by colleges to elucidate this, even if they are small, will be quite helpful for students.
The same goes for financial aid, though the impacts of this are going to be limited. The number of colleges that can give out the kinds of aid packages that Yale does are extremely limited. Many colleges that make their financial aid obscure do so purposefully, to hide just how much you’ll be paying, or to make the aid look more generous than it is. While greater clarity at some schools will be helpful, we do expect overall aid packages to remain byzantine.
The worry of the report, and those who commissioned it, is that collapsing trust in higher education will eventually harm the institution as a whole. This may indeed be a problem in the long term, but we do not foresee it in the near future for schools like Yale, and we believe that it will remain as competitive as ever for admissions.
After all, top schools have seen scandals before, often rather embarrassing. Columbia, just recently, was caught blatantly cheating on their placement in the rankings. In response to this, the acceptance rate…barely varied at all. While there may be long term pressures on universities that this report seeks to address, there are unlikely to be major near term consequences to consider.
Final Thoughts
There are many issues with higher education; we run into these every day. It’s unsurprising that colleges themselves have noticed these as well. While this report has generated a lot of notice, diagnosing the problems with education is often the easiest step. It remains to be seen what changes, if any, will be implemented, either by Yale or their peers.
If you’re looking for help navigating the often complicated admissions process, or any other aspect of dealing with colleges and preparing for them, then Ivy Scholars can help. Our mentors have a deep understanding of the admissions process, and what officers want to see from students. If you’re looking for advice on any of this, then schedule a free consultation today, we’re always happy to hear from you.
