An Era of Educational Democratization

The future will continue to witness an industry-wide leveling effect on education. There is no question that the pandemic clearly accelerated the preexisting educational trends and conditions in our industry 36 months ago. Before the pandemic, the higher education sector continued to point toward three major trends, including 1) accelerated and self-paced learning, 2) ubiquitous or flexible access points, and 3) new pricing strategies designed to reach new audiences.

Be ready for all of this to accelerate into a new era of democratization of education. We are learning that there is a strong correlation between learning flexibility and persistence/engagement. With the movement to hybrid and online learning, the average American family is realizing that they, too, can have access to high quality education.

If you are a school or college that gained incremental enrollment simply because your organization was physically open during the pandemic, expect that to be short-lived. The shifts that we will witness over the next several years will give rise to new competitors that will be in direct competition with full-time, place-based, high cost education.