Will College Officials Try to Stifle Competition?

The rise of online coursework allowing students to choose among a huge number of education providers is creating a conflict-of-interest situation for college leaders, argues Burck Smith in this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call. They could (and should) allow students to satisfy some of their credit requirements with quality courses offered by other institutions, but they’ll be tempted to restrict that freedom of choice by insisting on their own offerings. That would help keep up their revenues, but at the expense of sullying their claim to act for the good of the public.