Background:

In addition to educating their students in traditional “academic” fields, many universities also dabble in the entertainment industry. Sometimes, this can be big business: in fact, the head coach of a particularly well-funded sports team might be the highest paid individual at the entire institution!

The Issue:

There has been a severe lack of imagination when it comes to other financially interesting things that a college might use to obtain additional value from its students. It’s basically just sports, and nothing else. Let’s remedy this!

Proposal:

The resources available to a college include (among other groups) a large population of high school graduates who would appreciate some type of job training.

Consider the following additional possibilities (Fig. 1) for helping students gain valuable real-world skills and also making money for the university:

• 1. Supplying “bit part” actors for movies. A college has access to a wide range of individuals with varying acting qualifications. Why not have a college also double as a “central casting” agency for Hollywood?
• 2. Running a university-affiliated casino. This would provide jobs for students and valuable revenue for the university.
• 3. Forming a private military company (PMC, or a mercenary corps if you prefer) to travel the world and engage in deadly missions for the highest bidder. This could be dangerous, but perhaps student loans would be forgiven (thus freeing their co-signers from any debt) in the event that a student-mercenary is felled in the line of duty.

Conclusion:

There are undoubtedly dozens more similarly good ideas for hybrid academic/commercial ventures. Universities should be more creative!

PROS: Could bring additional revenue to universities, which could reduce tuition make it possible to hire more administrative staff.

CONS: Might cause a university to pivot completely away from education and just become a contracting agency.