by Jeanne Allen
Forbes
April 25, 2019

Felicity Huffman and 13 other defendants recently agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the “Operation Varsity Blues” case, the recently uncovered college cheating scandal. Dozens of “elites” — folks at the top of our entertainment, finance and education systems — were implicated in a large-scale bribery scheme to help shoehorn their children into some of America’s top colleges. These students clearly had an unfair advantage, but here’s the secret of higher education: students don’t have to attend what some consider the “top” colleges to get a world-class education.

For decades, parents of high school students have been anxiety-ridden in an effort to get their kids into certain schools. They obsess over extracurriculars, GPAs and personal essays, and, according to a shocking new YouGov poll, one-third of all parents would pay to have someone cheat on standardized tests for their child! On top of an increasing proclivity of students and parents creating fake, glamorous lives for social media, now it seems they’re creating fake lives for colleges as well.

These parents understand how important it is to provide their children a great education — that makes the college decision process a pressure cooker of stress. Imagine hard-working parents’ frustration when they found out some families simply bought their way in.

But there’s good news for overstressed parents and students — it turns out that while elite schools can help students advance, they’re not as important for a student’s future as one might think. A groundbreaking report in 2011 by the late economist Alan Krueger showed students with similar SAT scores enjoyed roughly the same career success, regardless of which college they attended. Simply put: intelligence and aptitude matter more than attending a name-brand school.

If the “bumper sticker” schools — whose diplomas all carry six-figure price tags — don’t deserve this national obsession, where else can ambitious students receive a great education? It’s simple: wherever they’d like.

New and improved higher education opportunities now abound, thanks to global innovations, increasingly personalized technologies and a recognition that learning is much broader than any one institution can truly offer. Strapped for cash? Try working at Starbucks or Uber and receive a free full-time education at Arizona State University online that is equivalent to the Ivies (Mossimo Giannulli’s comments to the contrary).

Want to study and be prepared immediately for a career upon graduation? Students at the Colorado School of Mines will earn more in their career than a graduate from most Ivy League schools, and they’re much more likely to say their alma mater makes the world a better place. Tuition is roughly one-third the cost of Yale’s sky-high tuition, with a far higher acceptance rate. There’s no reason to try to bribe your way into the Colorado School of Mines!

How about taking a 12-week bootcamp at General Assembly, nearly guaranteed to land you a job at hundreds of other high-tech, desirable companies. With a new income share agreement program, the program allows approved students to pay their tuition fees in small installments after they have landed a position.

How about a “Freshman Year for Free?” Modern States Education Alliance now makes that possible. Students can take certified courses from approved and recognized university professors, sit for CLEP, a nationwide end-of-course exam, and earn enough credits to start their sophomore years without having paid a dime.

Paul Quinn College is a new urban work college, and Purdue University now offers an income share agreement to limit its students’ debt after graduation. From state-school honors’ colleges to coding bootcamps to online courses, students have a plethora of opportunities to enjoy the best higher-ed system in the world. So what steps can Congress and state legislatures take to reduce educational barriers, accelerate innovation in higher ed and get to the heart of the problem?

It’s simple. First, policymakers at the national and state levels must amend arcane accreditation requirements that measure schools based on how many years students are in school, how many degrees professors have and how many books the library holds. Accreditation should be defined by outcomes, not time spent sitting in class.

Second, accreditors should similarly permit approvals of non-traditional programs like General Assembly or the hundreds of condensed, hybrid on-ground online programs helping students earn valuable credentials in fields such as nursing, technology and project management.

Finally, federal financial aid should follow students to all qualified institutions, not just 4-year residential institutions. To be
sure, a residential experience can be life changing in many ways. But it’s not a prerequisite for a great education, and too many families allow a distorted nostalgia to influence their students and set them up for failure. One kind of college does not a successful person make.

College rankings don’t determine students’ value or worth  — so we should encourage them to explore their options. Sadly, it took an ugly cheating scandal to expose the nation’s brand-name obsession. Now it’s time for the public to become more aware of what really matters and for policymakers to move quickly to encourage more innovation and diversity in the higher education sector. Let’s help students make the smart choice for their futures, not the bumper-sticker choice.