College Students Owe Themselves, Not Professors

The beautiful thing about free exchange is that both parties are better off following the transaction. Value is subjective, but all that really matters is the opinion of those doing the exchanging. When I buy a TV, I clearly prefer it to the money I forked over, and the seller prefers to have the money. So what is the customer's obligation, and what is the merchant's? The customer must pay the merchant. End of story. The merchant, however, must provide a product that meets the customer's expectations. If he doesn't, he loses business.

This is certainly not a new idea by any stretch, but it is a foreign concept to the entire college scene. The college student is the customer and the teacher is the merchant. Therefore, once the teacher gets paid, the student has no further obligation in the transaction. The teacher, on the other hand, is now obligated to provide the product for which the student has paid.

Having been and around college my whole life - as a child of a professor, student, and now adjunct faculty myself - I have observed a role reversal. Students are constantly made to feel as though they owe something to the professor. When a paper hasn't been completed on time, or even when a student doesn't do as well on a test as he 'should' have, the student issues apologies, feeling guilty for not having 'pleased' the professor. Professors do look better when students learn and do well, but it is not the student's responsibility to make this happen!

What would college look like if students and teachers were forced to deal with economic reality?

According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2013-2014 school year was $30,094 at private colleges, $8,893 for state residents at public colleges, and $22,203 for out-of-state residents attending public universities. [1] If we use the example of $20,000 tuition ($10,000/semester) and an average of 16 credits per semester, that comes to $625 per credit. Assuming 40 hours of class time per semester for a 3-credit course, that comes to $46.88 per hour of class. Imagine how different things would be if, after signing a contract for a semester of classes, the students handed the professor $47 cash every time he walked into class.

Given a 13-week semester and 16 credits, that's about $770/week - Ouch! Students would be a lot more concerned about getting good value:

1. The onus to work hard would be on the students - they'd be much more diligent.

2. Students would not re-up unless the product continued to pay dividends for them.

3. The professor would know his livelihood depended on producing every semester.

4. Students wouldn't be apologizing to professors for not showing up/doing work.

5. The idea that students are wasting professors' time would be flushed down the toilet (you've been paid, handsomely!).

Some people may not view all of these consequences as positive, but I can guarantee there would be much more learning, and much less time and money wasted. In the short run, that would hurt colleges and professors, perhaps tremendously, but in the long run, productive activity is good for everyone. After all, creating a product is about serving the customer, not the merchant.

1. http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064