University Supports McCain-Palin on Tuition Costs

Birmingham, Ala. - Andrew Jackson University, a private for-profit institution, announced its support for the McCain/Palin plan to examine the “tuition spiral.” University president Don Kassner stated that his colleagues at traditional colleges and universities should be required to explain the reasons for their spiraling tuition and fees. “If the quality of a college education moved in the same direction as the tuition spiral the increases might be justified,” said Kassner. “But the student – and his or her parents or employer – are paying more and getting less, and they have a right to know why,” Kassner continued.

As a wholly online institution, Andrew Jackson University’s operating costs are substantially lower than state or private schools, so it looks with disapproval at how academics run these other schools. “Bureaucrats have a difficult time addressing cost-value issues,” says Kassner, an economist by training. “Their hands always seem to be extended, cajoling state treasuries or benefactors or students to provide more and more cash, and those footing the bill have to wake up and put a halt to this profligacy,” he said.

Kassner referenced comments made several years ago by long time academic and respected business guru Peter Drucker, who told us to expect enormous changes in higher education, thanks to the rise in satellites and the Internet. Drucker also decried the “more for less” issue relating to cost versus quality that the Republicans want to address. If Drucker is correct, and it looks like he is, says Kassner, many universities as we know them today won’t exist in twenty years. “Their value as learning institutions, rather than social gathering places, will be supplanted by cost effective online course delivery and student-instructor interaction,” predicted Kassner.

Not so coincidentally, Andrew Jackson University recently introduced a plan to eliminate tuition by recruiting third party organizations to sponsor students. Referred to as a zero-tuition plan by some participating students, tuition is effectively eliminated while Andrew Jackson’s direct costs are defrayed by an administrative fee in the three to four hundred dollar range per semester. According to Kassner the sponsored tuition program is currently limited to one hundred enrollments per month, but the limit will rise as sponsors are added and staff increased at the university.

Andrew Jackson University (www.aju.edu) is an accredited institution offering eleven degree programs, all online.

Contact Information

Don Kassner

President

Andrew Jackson University

Contact via E-mail