At the close of the twentieth century, the American economy was booming, driven in large part by investor and venture capitalist enthusiasm for the Internet and its application to commerce and the knowledge economy. Higher education shared in this enthusiasm, as prophets spoke compellingly of distance learning and the ability to learn anything, anywhere, and at any time, with no limits imposed by location or timing. Asynchronous learning opportunities over the World Wide Web were lauded by technology evangelists as the future of higher education. The growing prominence of forprofit institutions, such as the University of Phoenix, DeVry, Strayer, Kaplan, and Corinthian Colleges seemed to be ascendant, linked in the minds of many with the new technologies fueling explosive growth in the stock market. Indeed, during this time, I attended several annual sessions of the Aspen Forum on the Future of Higher Education where those of us from traditional colleges and universities were lectured by for-profit advocates, informing us that our institutions were soon to be "toast," driven out by the more efficient, flexible, and cost-effective institutions being born.Following the dot-com implosion, some balance has returned to this discussion, and the early exaggerations have come to be seen as just that: exaggerations. Nonetheless, all sectors of higher (or postsecondary) education in recent years have been forced by economic pressures to become more entrepreneurial in style and substance. Whether public nonprofit, private nonprofit, or for profit, colleges and universities are being forced to behave ever more aggressively in the competition for financial resources and for students This research has been supported by Lumina Foundation for Education and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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