Regarding AI in education, we generally only hear about the potential impact of AI on the classroom: if it can really help students learnor will Encourage cheating. And although these are legitimate challenges, the true potential of AI is in the savings of higher education of its most existential challenges: to reduce the registrations motivated by arrow costs, down the detention of students dissatisfied and reducing the commitment of the ancients.
Disturbing downward trends have caused 100 higher education establishments (Ie private universities, community colleges, technical schools, etc.) to close between the years 2022-23 and 2023-24, according to the National Center of Education Statistics. This trend should continue, in particular with federal subsidies for certain initiatives in limbo and reduced research subsidies, By upper interior Ed.
The overall impact of programs involving federal assistance to students from the Ministry of Education and Financing of Agency Research such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, could be both important and chaotic.
Even before freezing, many higher education establishments were in free budgetary fall
While tuition fees regularly increase each year, the cost continues to be a major obstacle to the attendance of the college. THE Education data initiative said average tuition fees for a four -year public school increased by 179%, and these costs increased by 124% in four -year -old private schools. Adding to the burden, the average The federal balance of student loans debt is $ 37,853.
For many students, endless cost increases have serious doubts about the return To obtain a diploma, leading the colleges to close at a rate of One per week As a student registration declins across the country. According to a bench investigationOnly 22% of American adults say that the cost of college is worth it even if someone has to contract loans, 47% say that it is worth it, but only without loans, and 29% do not find that in was worth the cost. A recent Gallup poll In addition, validated that the cost was the main reason for the drop in registrations.
THE sloppy deployment From the free demand for federal assistance to students (FAFSA) in 2024 exacerbated these problems as reported by the New York Times, which makes thousands of students impossible to determine if they could afford to attend. And the highest ED does not seem to take a break – although the deployment of the FAFSA 2025 seems to take place more easily, the intention of the current administration to divert federal funding from universities should put universities more in a financial hole.
University expenditure compared to income in 2023
Administrative costs continue to increase
The major costs increases are often not due to investments in education itself, such as the hiring of new teachers and other educators, and are rather perpetuated by the increase in administrative costs.
According to a study In the Journal of Social Economy, the number of full -time administrators increased by 164% between 1972 and 2018. Compared, the number of full -time teachers increased by 92% and the registration of students increased by 78% . Today, the majority of a school budget goes to the administration. Although administrators play a vital role, they are most often trapped in the redundant systems and processes and processes that have balloon budgets, and therefore transmit more costs to the student.
To reverse the drop in trends and navigate the major opposite winds with which the industry is faced, establishments must urgently make colleges for students, and the most direct path is to confront ineffectures within administrative offices.
Teachers’ ratio to administrators over time
Time to innovate is now
The AI has a golden opportunity for schools to reinvent their operation. There is an obvious utility for technology to help automate banal and tedious tasks, such as notes, optimization of data entry and the summary of fact reduction documents, which occupy time and resources considerable.
However, there is even more potential for AI – in particular AI agents – to relieve the most fundamental administrative processes of a school, in particular the recruitment of students, success and advice, as well as in the engagement of the ancients. These operations are essential to the identity and existence of a school, but are the most high intensity of labor and the most ineffective.
The AI current tools support the increase in work flow to rationalize administrative tasks and help automation, but always rely on administrators for operation and management. AI agents, however, can help schools independently examine demands and personal declarations, to conduct preliminary interviews with the candidates, to answer questions from students throughout the registration route, and Much more – not only to rationalize work but also improve its effectiveness. In fact, when questioned, 86% of university leaders agreed that AI presents a “massive opportunity to transform higher education”, according to a recent study by Collegevine.
Schools already experience what it can look like in practice. According to a Intelligent investigationHalf of the educational admission services used AI in 2023, and 82% will be by the end of 2024. For example, Georgia Tech Use AI Manage large volumes of applications by creating formulated information, such as calculating GPA. Likewise, the Chicago Institute School uses AI to predict Registration trends And which would be most likely to accept an offer, while Knox College uses AI to effectively Manage student recruitment and maximize limited resources.
Budgets are increasingly allocated to non -insufficient expenses, which only grants the costs of students who already find it difficult to afford tuition fees. AI agents, however, are a promising solution to alleviate these increasing costs.
AI as a life buoy
Although we only saw the first advantages of these technologies, over time, we can expect its cascade efficiency to have a direct impact on unnecessary costs, saving the spoiled industries by limited resources and financial dilemmas .
AI no longer consists in automating tasks. Today more than ever, higher must fundamentally rethink how they operate AI agents to improve administrative processes, reduce costs and redirect resources to their main missions.
