The staggering level of student debt is just one problem among many in higher ed. Change is coming.

Jennifer Kabbany of The College Fix writes.

Demise of Traditional Higher Education Model Predicted By Conservative Scholars

LOS ANGELES – The higher education system as it stands today will crumble. It’s a question of when, not if. It’s a question of what that new system will look like, not if this current structure can survive.

That was the sentiment shared by many conservative scholars at a conference held Sunday at the University of Southern California titled “Failing Grades: The Crisis in Teaching On Our University Campuses,” hosted by the American Freedom Alliance and California Association of Scholars.

The event featured a parade of respected conservative educators who cited massive concerns about today’s universities: leftist bias; highly inflated costs; politicized classrooms; echo chambers among faculty; unresponsive and complicit administrators; esoteric and bizarre curriculums; disappearance of Western Civilization courses; student indoctrination; an intolerance for and outright hostility toward conservative thought; and a lack of informed debate.

What emerged from speakers was a grim and depressing picture, one that they said had essentially reached critical mass – meaning parents, politicians, average citizens, and even young people know that the system is corrupt, broken – and extremely overpriced. Not worth it anymore, especially given the advent of technology, and the growing acceptance, growth and development of online educations.

“The model is not sustainable,” said Victor Davis Hanson, a Stanford University scholar and conservative columnist. “The market, whether it’s the Internet or trade schools, they are starting to make adjustments.”

John Ellis, president of the California Association of Scholars, agreed.

“Students may begin to vote with their feet,” he said. “Parents are fed up with this fraudulent education.”

UCLA law Professor Daniel Lowenstein predicted that “over the next 25 years, the changes in universities will dwarf the changes that have occurred over the last 50 years.”

“The present system is not going to survive,” he said, noting he is unsure of the exact nature of the changes or when they will specifically take hold.

“The structure is going to be shattered, and new structures will emerge,” he said. “There will be opportunities to create good things.”