Could taking the fun out of college make kids want to go?

For generations, a college degree held the promise of a well-paying job and financial stability — but, boy, have times changed!

Today, thanks to the rising cost of tuition, a bachelor’s degree feels more like a path to debt than a ticket to employment, which is why many Gen Zers are choosing not to enroll.

• Average student loan debt hovers around $40.5k per borrower.

• Since 2016, 150+ colleges and universities have shuttered or merged, with college enrollments expected to fall 13% by 2041.

Startup Greenway Institute thinks its novel approach to higher ed could convince prospective students otherwise.

What it’s proposing: college, minus the frills — no dining halls, sports events, Greek life, state-of-the-art gyms, or extracurricular activities.

What they’ll get instead: “A degree. A job. No debt.”

Following a successful prototype semester last spring, Greenway is now planning to open its first campus in Vermont next fall, focusing solely on engineering.

How it works

With fewer overhead costs, tuition is priced at just $25k a year, a bargain compared to the national average of ~$38k — even more so compared to the $65.5k average for private universities.

• Students would live and learn on campus for the first two years. Then, for the final two, they’d go off to work at jobs that would pay ~$50k while still receiving faculty support.

• This way, rather than learn theory alone, students would get hands-on work experience and graduate with little to no debt.

• They’d be responsible for cooking their own meals and cleaning up after themselves throughout, so they’d also get a little lesson in adulting.

• As for the social stuff, one founding faculty member told Fast Company that the lack of on-campus dining and extracurriculars actually helped pilot students bond by forcing them to cook, grocery shop, and organize their own outings together.

Eventually, it hopes to scale up to 10-20 campuses nationwide to graduate 10k+ students a year.

A college makeover?

Whether the model will be able to translate to other fields of study is unclear for now. What is clear is that the model American colleges are currently operating on isn’t working, and Greenway isn’t the only one working to find a solution:

• It’s one of several dozen institutions around the world that are working on reimagining higher ed for the 21st century.

If things go smoothly next school year, Greenway plans to eventually scale up to 10-20 campuses nationwide to graduate 10k+ students a year.