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Dear Students and Families,
Thank you to those who were able to participate in our webinar on Aug. 6. It is clear that college and university students and their families across the country and abroad are seeking lower tuition from their respective schools, expressing concern that the pandemic’s economic impact will result in students not receiving a high-quality education through an online format.
The purpose of this message is to provide a window into the University’s decision-making process regarding tuition and fees, particularly for those who were unable to join last week’s webinar. Although this letter will not provide every nuance we have considered, I hope it candidly expresses the realities of online learning and tuition costs. Ultimately, as a community, we must steward our resources wisely to preserve the value of the Arcadia degree for future generations of students.
Many assume that the quality of education will be significantly reduced through online learning. Although there will be pedagogical differences through an online experience, our goal continues to be to provide a transformative education for our diverse student body of learners. Our instructional technologists and faculty are working tirelessly to deliver on this commitment.
In fact, the online course experience is now an essential part of our institution's fabric and will almost certainly be part of the student experience in perpetuity. Through this crisis, we have rapidly built expertise in new teaching modalities and launched a Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring (CTLM) to develop an inclusive pedagogy framework, communities of practice, and ongoing training. We expect even more online innovation in the months and years to come. This is the new normal. We have invested considerable resources in the technologies and training of faculty and staff and on redesigning courses for the coming academic year. These course designs are different from what we are accustomed to, not less than. In many ways, these new modalities offer advantages and opportunities that simply were not possible before.
We understand the enormous commitment students and families make when deciding to pursue a higher education degree. At Arcadia, we deliberately exercise strong stewardship of the resources entrusted to us as part of our Lived Value of Responsibility. While there are difficult decisions ahead of us, we will emerge stronger from this crisis and continue on our path of making Arcadia accessible and affordable. We will continue to communicate regularly and engage the community to arrive at the best decisions for our stakeholders and Arcadia University.
None of us wanted this crisis or expected to be in this situation. Please know that we are doing our best to manage a seemingly impossible situation. I appreciate your patience and trust.
Sincerely,
Ajay Nair, Ph.D.
President
Arcadia University