Why Universities Should Wise Up and Retain Their ‘Users’

Here’s a question: Can you name a service provider that kicks out all its paying and engaged members for no reason after four years? Answer: universities.

After playing this game myself for a while, I haven’t come up with very many examples of organizations other than schools that willfully throw out engaged “users.”  When you step back for a second, this sounds like a crazy thing to do.  

There are some good reasons why universities operated on a fixed, set-length schedule historically. But technology is changing the game significantly enough that it is time for universities to move away from limited-time engagement and towards a lifelong subscription model.