A UMKC student, taking the Philosophy 326 course in Metaphysics, for instance, could have fallen asleep in his 1975 class and awakened 34 years later in the same building, in the same classroom, possibly in the same desk, with the
same teacher, teaching the same way he did 34 years ago—and wearing the same jeans and tweed jacket to boot.

For the student, only the fact that his classmates were wearing their hats backward, typing on their laptops, or texting on their cell phones would have tipped him off that he had slept a little longer than he ought to have.

For the traditional student at any local university, large or small, the college experience has changed surprisingly little
over the last 35 years.

IT refinements in registration, campus communications, research and the like would account for most of the positive changes the student experienced.

As to the student’s weekends, these would look blearily the same. There has been little change in keg technology or philosophy over time.

What would catch the sleeping student’s eye eventually, or at least the eye of his parents, would be the bill. Save for
the years of hyper-inflation, 1978-1980, in every other year since 1975 the average rate of tuition increase has utstripped
the consumer price index. In the last 10 years, tuition has been increasing at more than twice the rate of the CPI.

The fact that professors are still wearing jeans and tweed jackets suggests— accurately—that they have not been the
beneficiaries of the tuition increases. The buying power of their salaries is only marginally better than it was in 1975.

During the period in question, universities have been adding new administrators at roughly three times the rate they have been adding new faculty. And although administrative salaries across the board have not increased dramatically,
salaries at the top of the administrative ladder most certainly have. Exceptions can be found at smaller universities with faith-oriented missions.

The increase in healthcare costs over that same time has resulted in stunning new medical breakthroughs and
enhanced customer service. The 1975 undergraduate would be hard pressed to see what the exponential growth in
tuition, largely absorbed by administrative costs, would have netted him or her.

In fact, the “her” would have benefited more than the “him.” In 1975 there were more male undergraduates than
females. By 2008, some 57 percent of all undergraduates were female, and the percent was increasing. Women had also
gone from being a small minority in law and medical schools to a majority in many law schools.

Some portion of the administrative increase has gone to promoting female enrollment and protecting female interests. In 1975, for instance, there was little attention paid on campus to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, or athletic opportunities for females.

At research-oriented universities, the pursuit and administration of grants has added another level of cost. As with the
honoring of new regulations, the administration of grants by a university has value for the larger society, but little erceived
benefit for the average student.

Where students have benefited since 1975 is in the extraordinary growth of non-traditional programs. Today’s student
has a wide range of opportunities largely unavailable 35 years ago. Although many of these programs are aimed at MBA
students, more and more are designed for undergraduates and graduates alike in an impressive variety of degree programs.

In 1975, for instance, Johnson County Community College was only six years old and just beginning to sense its potential. The college had moved to its current location on the newly named “College Boulevard” just three years earlier and had only 3,600 students. Today, more than 18,000 credit students and 15,000 continuing education students enroll
each semester at what has become the cultural center of Johnson County.

Although Kansas University offered limited courses in Kansas City in 1975, it wasn’t until 1993 that it opened its
Edwards Campus in Johnson County and now offers 20 graduate and undergraduate degree completion programs.

Webster University of St. Louis, which had not gone co-ed until 1962, was just establishing its footing in Kansas City
in 1975. It had opened its extended campus program three years earlier here, the first such campus beyond St. Louis.
Webster may have started a trend. Kansas City would witness an explosion of offcampus degree programs by outlying
universities like Ottawa, Baker, and the University of Central Missouri.

For-profit institutions have also established a serious presence here since 1975, among them DeVry, Brown-Mackie
College, the University of Phoenix, and Keller Graduate School of Management.

As is true with health care, the new entities are fully customer oriented, right down to their streamlined admissions, easy parking, convenient hours, and interstate locations. Other traditional universities—Park comes to mind—have
developed extensive online educational opportunities. The latter is something undreamed of in 1975.

Is the contemporary student learning more than he or she would have in 1975? That remains to be seen. What is inarguable, however, is that the student is paying much more for the opportunity.