APB Speaker Jeffrey Selingo Explains Why the “College Amenities” Arms Race Is Ending
25 Aug 2017
“As colleges increasingly worry about boosting their retention and graduation rates, campuses are returning to their old-school ways.” - Jeffrey Selingo
APB speaker Jeffrey Selingo takes us on a journey through the history of dorms in his most recent article for The Atlantic. For nearly the past 20 years, Selingo points out, colleges across the country have engaged in an “amenities arms race”: a competition over which school offers the most extravagant amenities. Although this is a shift from dorm life prior to the '00s, Selingo suggests that higher education institutions are adjusting their investments due to growing concerns about rising tuition and student debt, declining numbers of high school graduates and the changing tastes of students and parents.
How can colleges stay competitive in the future if enrollments continue to decline? According to Selingo, expensive amenity renovations are no longer the answer. However, with the higher education landscape changing—fewer than 40% of students actually graduate in four years, many are dropping out and there’s less college-going students today—this leaves colleges wondering: what’s next?
An expert on higher education, APB speaker Jeffrey Selingo has written countless books on the current landscape of college and what lies ahead. In College Unbound, he explains what the future of higher education looks like and in There Is Life After College, he encourage students and their parents to remain hopeful in the face of a shifting landscape. Also a columnist for The Washington Post, Selingo continues to be a valuable voice for students, parents and colleges across the country.