Is Higher Ed’s Learning Future Hybrid, Not Remote?

The COVID-19 pandemic is thankfully in the rearview mirror, at least for now. Most of the roughly 4,000 U.S. colleges and universities have welcomed students back to campus for the better part of three years after locking down and moving classes online to help stop the spread of the virus in 2020.

Yet, despite being able to return to campus, a growing number of students have continued to work online — as much as 70% of college students still take at least one online course. Combine that trend with the fact that the American high school population is shrinking and that more families than ever are thinking twice about whether a college education is worth the cost, and you’re left with the current climate of at least one university merging or closing its doors for good every month on average.

Student demand for universities can vary greatly based on the ranking and prestige of the school. Ivy leagues and top public schools are seeing record application numbers from both home and abroad, while second-tier state universities and lower-ranked liberal arts colleges are cratering. The latter comes from students deciding they’re better off getting a job, pursuing a trade school or teaching themselves new skills via the internet instead of going into debt for all-time high tuition costs with no guarantee of a future career.

For better or for worse, the pandemic also inspired a cultural shift. American students and professionals alike realized the convenience of working remotely from home outweighed the benefits of being in-person in their schools and offices. Given the inflated price tags of housing, dining and shopping on campus, cutting those costs via the online, live-at-home route has become even more appealing.

And as more students than ever struggle to afford college, the majority of U.S. universities have found themselves with some soul-searching to do. Which also begs some serious questions: is campus life, like so many other in-person aspects of American society, dying? Or will the future of higher education in the U.S. include the 50 elite universities at the top of the rankings enjoying robust on-campus life and the other 3,900 schools functioning as commuter or online-only colleges?

We interviewed college administrators and university consultants to find out, and we were surprised with the answers we received.

Solitary Struggles Make the Case for Interpersonal Relationships

Mary Banks served for four decades in various capacities as a university administrator, admissions director and dean at NYU, Columbia and the University of Colorado Boulder, among other schools. She now works as director of admissions consulting for the New York City-based Quad Education Group and advises a dozen high-school students from around the world.

Banks says if her experience has taught her anything, it’s that interpersonal relationships are pivotal to learning. She pointed to reports of how the pandemic-influenced stay-at-home orders and online learning models not only affected students’ mental health but ultimately resulted in worse grades and lower satisfaction with the university experience. Although more students and their families are “rightfully” trying to shore up finances and consider university costs, Banks advises her clients to recognize the developmental value that comes with experiencing an immersive on-campus life.

“Ironically enough, the pandemic proved how important in-person learning is for most students and teachers,” Banks said in a wide-ranging interview with Volt. “Everything suffered. Students weren’t engaged, and teachers weren’t prepared to deliver a course that was stimulating and interesting.”

Despite more colleges than ever offering increasingly robust online programs, Banks opined the online-only model won’t ever be the answer for making education more affordable in the United States.

“The in-person education does so much for making you aware of how important relationships are in business, in teaching, in medicine and in sports, to name a few,” she added. “I can’t think of an industry or a career where interpersonal relationships aren’t pivotal.”

Meeting Student Demand

Universities insist they need the inflated tuition dollars. Most argue that every penny students spend to be on campus is helping fund vital programs such as DEI initiatives, career centers and research, among countless other programs. But if money talks, the wallets of more U.S. high school parents and their children say they’re not interested in that bill of goods. 

Or are they?

Jeff Kallay, senior vice president of enrollment counseling at Florida-based consultancy Echo Delta, works with nearly three dozen universities to help provide on-campus environments for students to thrive academically and socially. Kallay’s clients span the gamut from Ivy League schools to public state schools and even community colleges. One thing they all have in common, he said, is a feeling that they need to do more to meet student demand.

“Students expect state-of-the-art WiFi, and they expect farm-to-table in the dining hall because diet is an identity now,” he said. “Then they want mental health counseling and a more sophisticated career center and internships and study abroad. And then people ask why higher-ed keeps getting more expensive. Just look at the consumer.”

He commented that student applications and campus visit tallies for his client schools “remain healthy” in the wake of the pandemic, despite numerous reports suggesting otherwise across the nation.

“People still value place-based education,” Kallay said. “Enough parents saw their child struggle with online learning and realized that the model isn’t for everyone. Families appreciate that it’s not just the classroom experience that their children get on campus. They learn from conflicts and resolutions of having a roommate, of navigating time management, of being away from home.”

Hybrid ‘Buffet,’ Community College, and Making Costs Work

Since he took office in 2018, Duquesne University Provost David Dausey has been pushing a virtual system called HyFlex that offers students remote access to their classes. When in-person life shut down in 2020, Duquesne spread HyFlex across its entire campus to every classroom.

On-campus life has returned, but the HyFlex cameras, microphones and monitors have stayed in Duquesne’s classrooms, where students still have the option to attend any class in-person or from the comfort of home. Dausey said having the technology was a matter of convenience, but it can also indirectly help with cost.

“For us, it was all about finding ways to expand our reach and make learning more accessible,” Dausey said. “It’s beneficial for everyone, but especially for students that commute long distances or for example on snow days when conditions might not be ideal for everyone to make it in person.”

With inflation still over 3%, college tuition prices setting new record highs almost annually and the cost of housing also steadily increasing, Banks, Kalay, and Dausey conceded that the traditional four-year on-campus model isn’t financially accessible to as many American families as in previous generations. But, they argue, students can still find ways to maximize their dollars and get the best of all worlds.

Banks advises some of her rising American undergrad students to consider community college for two years, then transfer to their dream schools, or at least more prestigious ones, for the final two years.

“You don’t have to waste your parents’ money at an expensive Ivy or flagship figuring out that you should have been a math major instead of an English major,” she said. “Figure that out at a cheaper-per-semester cost, and if you do well, you can transfer to a state university or somewhere that’s not as discriminating as a Princeton or a Yale might be.”

With the hybrid learning offered by schools like Duquesne, students with introverted personalities can still benefit from leaving their comfort zone to be around other people, Kallay argued. The hybrid options offer the perks of being in-person and the occasional option to study from home when necessary.

“I think more students are viewing college as a buffet, like ‘I’m going to do IB and AP classes in high school and get some college credits before I go. Then at some point, I might do some hybrid work, or perhaps a semester online.’ The options are changing,” said Kallay. “While in-person is still the core model and best option for most, there’s more flexibility within that model for students to customize their college experience.”