https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-future-of-u-s-higher-edu...

Not a pretty picture painted here. The author is saying that higher Ed is basically a medieval institution that is primed for upheaval.

The costs have become no joke. Four years at OU is now more expensive than many private schools in Ohio. When I was going to OU there were kids from my high school that attended who grew up in lower middle class households with divorced parents that had to pay their way through school. Kids like that have been priced out of the pricey residential college experience.

Free community college is being floated about as a policy area and I actually think OU relative to the urban public colleges like Cincinnati and Akron which are attracting kids because of less residential requirements. Instead of going there students might opt for the community college or go the residential route all the way but not the half way between commuter school option.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-future-of-u-s-higher-edu...

Definitely right about Akron, but it's been awhile since UC was a commuter school. While they still have a ways to go to being a truly statewide university, they've come a long way from being an open admissions local commuter school attached to a good med school. They are actually more selective than Ohio right now. Throw in growing application/enrollment numbers, a billion dollar endowment and borderline AAU quality grad and professional schools, and they are sitting about as well to become a "winner" than any Ohio state school not located in Columbus.

The cost to attend and have the experience is way too much currently. The pandemic has shown another way to complete your degree and community colleges look to benefit. There will be a purging in Athens and other places to right size the new demand, which will be much less than before.

Maybe its because of remote learning, or high unemployment,but Sunday's (3/21/21) edition of The Record had an article entitled "Community Colleges See Big Drop In Enrollment".
(The Record won't let it link)

It explored the issue of the enrollment drop in great detail.

The Community Colleges are concerned that,even when things get back to normal,
their enrollment may not rebound to where it was.

Name one.

I'm using the net price statistics from the Niche website. Keep in mind this is the net cost for just one year, not four years as it cost when a lot of us were attending OU.

https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges/s/ohio /

Oberlin $43,612
Kenyon $37,940
Case Western $35,890
Wooster $28,209
Ohio Wesleyan $27,242
Ohio Northern $24,281
Wittenberg $23,060
Miami $22,989
Ohio University $22,521
Marietta College $21,483
Walsh University $20,180
Muskingum $19,743
Ohio State $18,760
Bowling Green $17,472

I didn't list all but enough to try to get a range of price. Realize private schools listed in the rankings are the cream of the crop and the lower tier unranked privates tend to be less.

Bowling Green has a lower overall cost and a good percentage of students that work while they're in school commuting from Toledo or Findlay areas (both are within 20 miles). Rent is more manageable than limited selection in Athens.

When I was even at OU a lot of students there wanted a private school type environment but picked OU because it was bigger with more resources. Miami is definitely in that niche too. For this reason I don't think an Appalachian first recruiting approach is viable for OU, aside from an honors program.

The tuition numbers are interesting. So, OSU costs the average student roughly 20% less than Ohio or Fiami, and that's not inconsequential as it equals roughly 16K to 20K over the course of an undergrad's education. Next, I looked at the base non discounted tuition cost differential.

Ohio 12,612
OSU: 11,084
Fiami: 15,911 (As usual, they're going for image over reality)

OSU's base tuition is only 12% less than Ohio's. So, it's no surprise that the richer school can offer more aid to extend that bargain from 12 to 20 percent.

Fiami does seem to be throwing a lot of money at aid to draw that (ridiculously) high tuition down to Ohio's level. And they have that built in base of affluent kids who are willing to pay an overpriced price in order to get trained in the douchebag arts.

Thinking about this on a strategic level though, ANY school in Ohio that's attempting to charge more than the highest ranked, most selective state school that offers the full-blown residential, Big Ten experience is playing a fool's gambit that's bound to fail. The way for Ohio to compete is to be the more affordable option to OSU. Fiami lives in their own little world. Personally, I think it's a house of cards waiting to come crashing down. How long can they troll the Chicago suburbs with their 40 year old "public ivy" book trying to lure preppy business majors who didn't get into Illinois or Wisconsin.

As you said though competing with OSU on anything is a futile effort, be it athletics or research dollars. Competing against Miami and the private schools makes more sense.

1. Have the best on campus food money can buy.
2. Keep the undergraduate enrollment to 13,500 to reduce overcrowding.
3. Place more emphasis on arts. Arts village around the Ridges.
4. Blast out the RTEC building to create a park for uptown farmers market.
5. Redirect traffic from S. Congress to only flow out to W. Union.
6. Add a new olympic pool to Ping with hot tubs.

Go top notch in the amenities if we're going to charge so much.