{"id":280,"date":"2014-09-16T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/what-about-a-liberal-arts-gmi.html"},"modified":"2015-03-01T22:16:17","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T04:16:17","slug":"what-about-a-liberal-arts-gmi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/what-about-a-liberal-arts-gmi.html","title":{"rendered":"What about a liberal arts GMI?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So, look, yesterday I linked to a report<\/a> quantifying the fact that employers are increasing requiring college degrees for jobs that objectively do not need it. \u00a0And over the weekend I speculated on how the financial aid system could be reformed<\/a>, though I didn\u2019t get very far. \u00a0And before that I suggested <\/a>that colleges have themselves to blame for helicopter parents, because they\u2019ve raised tuition so high that parents can\u2019t just sit back and hope for the best when they send Timmy off to college, lest they spend $50K with nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a step back. \u00a0Employers are demanding college degrees as never before both because, well, they can, in a tight job market, and also because that\u2019s a marker for a basic ability level of being able to make it through a course of study, of any kind. \u00a0They don\u2019t trust the education of a high school graduate, and they don\u2019t trust the maturity level of a fresh high school graduate. <\/p>\n

As to the first, that\u2019s where we could benefit from something akin to the German multi-tier educational system, in which it\u2019s clear that a completion certificate in itself isn\u2019t enough to demonstrate college readiness, but instead a higher level of skill and a final qualifying exam are required. \u00a0Instead, we do the opposite, with a \u201cqualifying exam\u201d which represents only a very basic level of high school learning. \u00a0(Incidentally, the German system doesn\u2019t doom a child for life at 5th grade, as their are opportunities to move up or down a \u201ctrack,\u201d though it\u2019ll take you longer, and even chances to move into a \u201ccollege-prep\u201d or American-college-level technical school program as an adult. \u00a0But that\u2019s a topic for another blog post.)<\/p>\n

As to the second, my thought, as I was showering* this morning, was this: \u00a0GMI, or General Motors Institute, was a university where students alternated between classroom and workplace, \u201cinterning\u201d long before internships became the norm, and funding their college education by working. \u00a0Could this concept be put to use in the liberal arts?<\/p>\n

(* If I lived in California, I\u2019d probably blog half as much, as many of my posts come from whatever I\u2019m thinking about while I shower. \u00a0Drought-necessitated shorter showers = \u00a0less thinking.)<\/p>\n

So I looked up GMI, now Kettering University, and it turns out that understanding of co-op = free education isn\u2019t correct, or, perhaps, isn\u2019t correct any longer, that the pay during the co-ops hasn\u2019t kept up with the tuition increases. \u00a0Tuition is $37,000 per year,<\/a> and the website says students can expect to earn between $40,000 \u2013 $65,000 over the course of their period of study from their co-ops, so enough to fund 44% of their tuition.<\/p>\n

One surprise: \u00a0room and board is reasonably-priced, and no-frills. \u00a0There\u2019s even the option (for anyone except freshmen) to select room-only and cook in the kitchen at the dorm.<\/p>\n

But in any case, here\u2019s the idea:<\/p>\n

As a replacement for a traditional 4-year liberal arts program for a high school graduate without any firm plans for a specialized course of study (e.g., no STEM, of course, and no business\/accounting or other \u201ctraining\u201d-type programs):<\/p>\n

First, complete a two-year course of study at a community college. \u00a0Academic courses only, please!, and at the college level, i.e., \u201cdevelopmental\u201d courses don\u2019t count. \u00a0If the local community college doesn\u2019t offer enough classes, then there are probably enough partnerships with online providers to fill in the gap. <\/p>\n

Second, a multi-year program that combines a mix of<\/p>\n