New York University sophomore Josh Hoffman takes a limousine to class on Sept. 1, a ride courtesy of the moving company that shipped his belongings to college.

I recently wrote here about thoughts I had on the value of the MBA education, in light of the recent Hack Your Education / Un-College movement forwarded by Dale Stephens.  I have some thoughts about college education.

There’s no question in my mind that college, as defined as a four-year residential institutional experience, is ripe for change and disruption.  Press often talks about the burgeoning student debt load and how this has mushroomed in recent years.  The reason for this is simple–college costs are growing sharply, well above the rate of inflation.  For students pursuing STEM degrees, no worries, the present value of lifetime earnings for those degrees is going to  surpass the costs associated with getting the degree. For degrees less in demand, the payback is more suspect and is indeed questionable.

Posing the question to rising college students and their families of whether one is really getting value for the money spent is a useful one.  So too is the question of whether there are ways to gain substantial value through alternative means–for example, learning how to program a computer.

A question that I think needs asked more, particularly of the four-year residential colleges with ever rising costs, is what can be done to slow or reverse the inexorable rise of a college education.

The thing that sticks out to me is reading about college dorms these days, as they make undergrad seem like living at a Ritz-Carlton.

“When students get to campus, they already have an expectation of having their own room, a bathroom in the room, a whole lot of privacy, and a whole lot of technology and connectivity,” says Ann Bailey, housing director at Mississippi State University. “They want, they expect a hotel, or a condominium, or a resort-type experience.”

Whoa.

This is widespread.  I was chatting recently with a Stanford University alum.  He’d taken a call from his alma mater for a fund-raising campaign seeking money in order to guarantee that ever undergrad could have his or her own private room.  His response: thanks but no thanks, roommates are fine.  When you drive by the University of Washington in Seattle, you can see right next to the stadium a recreational athletic complex that could house an Olympic program.

Much is written about the impact that technology and distance learning is going to have on the undergraduate college experience.  This is certainly true.  And I believe there is healthy discussion to be had around investing wisely in an undergraduate degree, in order that the benefits justify the investment.  http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14836425/#.UTeDcNFASBgBut with these shifts — technological, demographic, etc. — it would seem wise and necessary for universities to start really drilling in on slowing or reversing what is an unsustainable growth in costs.

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