The Mortarboard

According to Lumina Foundation, with enrollment dropping steadily and the majority of costs fixed, colleges and universities are currently spending $50B a year on space, services, and personnel they don't need, says Lumina CFO Brad Kelsheimer.

The Hechinger Report researcher Jon Marcus discusses the full extent of the transfer of public money to private contractors in American higher education.

Student services expert Eric Stoller explains that the way colleges serve students has changed quickly during the pandemic and why those changes are just the beginning.

UNC-Chapel Hill's history professor Jay Smith talks to host Daniel Barwick about how the university mismanaged its original COVID planning, and then mismanaged its responses to the resulting outbreaks.

Online education expert Joe Sallustio explains to host Daniel Barwick that the pandemic will only accelerate the demolition of the theoretical, psychological, and practical barriers to online education.

Professor and game designer Ian Bogost explains to host Daniel Barwick that worries about the fate of higher ed are misguided, because prominent critics mistake college's secondary purpose, education, for its primary one, collegiate life.

In this two-guest episode, Dan talks to Nancy Reasland of Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, about how the college has been so successful fighting the spread of Covid-19, and Jeff Selingo explains how the college admissions process is built to serve the needs of colleges, not students.

Eddy Conroy of Temple University's Hope Center explains how the Center collects data about the plight of students both prior to and during the pandemic, and offers next steps for helping students meet the challenges they face.

Higher education requires students to sign COVID-19 waivers, behavior codes, and pledges, and then expels them when they break the rules. Behavioral specialist Jennifer Howell of the University of California - Merced explains why the push to blame students ignores context and best practices.

Researcher Dr. Mitch Lingo explains to host Dr. Daniel Barwick how colleges, college towns, and even students are all cannibalizing themselves in responding to the coronavirus.