The problem with the European model for universities is that Europe is much more densely populated and compact than the US. Vast swathes of the country cannot live at home and attend a nearby college.
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Most US college students do indeed live at home and attend a nearby 2 or 4 year college.
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What percentage? As someone who lives in a rural area with no public transportation even if a college is, say, an hour away, it is extremely difficult for a student to attend. Which again supports my point, as European countries have robust public transport, making car ownership optional, not mandatory.
And this is with a community college an hour from me. I have to believe in the wide open spaces there isn’t always a college within an hour’s drive.
ETA this screenshot. If it’s not accurate, I doubt its wildly off base:
PPS - let’s also compare apples to apples. I am not aware of a community college type structure in Europe (though I am willing to be educated). So compare full time undergrads to full time undergrads.
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I find statista more reliable.
And if you include nontraditional students…
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Some places have a combination. For example, University of Hawaii Manoa is commute accessible in the state’s most populous area, but also has campus dorms for frosh who come from out of commute range. Same with Arizona State University. Some well known universities in Canada are similar.
However, some places make college for those in sparsely populated areas more accessible than others. Wyoming appears to give in state financial aid to cover living expenses at its one state university. West Virginia tries to have many state universities in various parts of the state, but they tend to be too small to offer everything and be financially sustainable, while still leaving much of the state outside of commuting range.
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One reason why so many US college students do not live at home is the existence of state flagship universities, most of which are land grant schools located in remote college towns: UIUC, IU, Purdue etc. That is not the situation in Canada and Europe. With a few exceptions their top universities are located in big cities.
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They are only reliable if you can see them without paying for a subscription. Could you post the relevant stats?
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My friend was a professor at a community college in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. Her students came from miles away, and they often needed night classes because they had to use the car their parents used during the day. The administration was completely clueless about what their students actually needed, and they made assumptions about programming based on their own ideas about why students weren’t flocking to programs held only in the day. It really opened my eyes to the issues rural students have in terms of trying to get a college education.
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Yes, but once you have dorms you’ve moved away from the “European model” and moved into “why US colleges are more expensive” territory. And you start to get people comparing amenities, food courts, private rooms etc etc. Which goes some way to explaining why US schools are more expensive than European ones.
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Thank you. You’ve said what I was trying to say, more clearly than I did!
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One difference in today’s higher Ed landscape is that students have excellent, legitimate 100% online options to get a bachelors degree (and I know there can be wifi issues in some extremely remote areas.) Cost can still be an issue too for some students, as always.
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I am 100 miles north of NYC and for my road (and some others in town) there is no high speed internet. None, and no possibility of getting it, unless you use Starlink, which we do.
During covid one assignment my high school student submitted took more than 24 hours to upload. When he told his teacher (so it wouldn’t be counted as late) she said “tell your dad to pay for faster internet!” and my son had to explain that it was a literal impossibility.
Many people could not work from home, or study online, in situations like ours. And many cannot afford Starlink.
This is (relatively) near New York City! I can only imagine what it’s like in rural Missouri, or Mississippi.
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Sadly there’s no blanket/affordable solution that will ensure access to higher Ed for everyone in every situation. The availability of fully online options has given some the possibility of attaining a bachelors that they didn’t have before.
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It’s interesting to me that online school is considered a good thing … except it was considered unacceptable during Covid.
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I don’t disagree. It’s certainly not for everyone, especially for those who were paying for/expecting a four year residential experience.
My friend taught chemistry. That is a tough class to run remotely. And it’s a necessity for healthcare and technology related jobs.
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I get it. My D had to take organic chem in Fall 2020 fully remote, not ideal to be sure but it all worked out.
I do think online education is getting more interactive and engaging. COVID forced a lot of teachers and professors with little online teaching experience into that format. If all you do is lecture to a camera, most students are going to struggle.
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Exactly, and some of these teachers/profs found they also prefer working from home. Although I would expect they might make less in a fully remote teaching/prof job. (There are fully online high schools too)
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