Education Commons^™

Consumer -Based Higher Education: The Uncaring Of Learning, Molly Kerby, Kristi Branham, Gayle Mallinger

Faculty Publications

The business model approach in higher education gained traction in the 1980s when federal and state funding for universities and colleges began to decrease. Critics of this model contend that current funding structures undermine the mission of the higher education and negatively impact retention (Rabovsky 2012). As Astin (1997) suggested, the structure of the American college and university system is more complex than the concept of customer satisfaction and efficiency. Past research indicates that we have created an institutionalized uncaring of learning. The business model is broken, lacks resilience, and is not sustainable.