Placing Learners First

On page 20, Terry O'Banion mentions this: "The focus is on the learner, here referred to as the customer because as the authors explained, '[W]e prefer and use the word customer because we believe it is an important reminder that higher education is in business to serve others, not to perpetuate itself or to make self-interested choices.'" This is known as the enterprise model. This model made me think of how college runs as business and it makes me question whether or not the goals of colleges is to help their students become lifelong learners and succeed with in career they want in the future or are they just out to make money. I honestly do not like being referred to as a "customer." I would rather be called a learner or student. However, colleges and universities do function as a business. Education is an important means of investing in human capital. According to an article, College Affordability: Tuition Tax Credits vs. Saving Incentives,the government has played an active role in financing higher education in order to provide universal access to college. Despite government efforts to improve college affordability, federal aid programs have fallen short of their expectations. We have seen:

• Tuition continue to rise.
• College affordability is declining
• The participation gap between low- and high-income students is widening.

In addition, these trends have occurred for several reasons:

• Colleges have little incentive to control costs and tuition.
• The market for higher education is distorted.
• Middlemen receive much of the benefit from federal subsidies.

On page 21, it was further emphasized, "What is being demanded is not just greater efficiency, but a willingness to consider new ways of doing business in order to better serve customers." Is this placing the learner and learning first? My opinion is that it is not, it is to make money.