DOTCOMS INVADE THE DORMITORY - In the tradition of Dell Computer and Microsoft, more and more college students are running dotcom businesses out of their dorm rooms - despite some school polices forbidding such enterprises. Past prohibitions on student business stemmed from the noise and confusion created in merchandise-based transactions - a student selling T-shirts out of a dorm room, for example. But today's student entrepreneurs use computers and cell phones to conduct business quietly and their activities are less disturbing to their roommates. Some school tech staff watch levels of Internet traffic to try to ferret out those doing business online. But student entrepreneurs set up off-campus post office boxes, use cell phones and non-school Internet addresses, and meet prospective investors in restaurants to avoid detection. And even when they are caught, some schools do little more than lecture them. (Newsweek, 15 May 00 - Edupage 10 May 00)

FOUR-PART PREDICTION SERIES (conclusion) - 16 Predictions for Higher Education

13. The big growth in adult and postsecondary education will be in degree and certificate programs for older adults. To be viable in the information society, the typical adult will need to take at least 30 semester credits every 10 years.

14. By 2005, there will be "killer" courseware applications covering the 25 college courses that enroll 50% of all credits.

15. Consortia of colleges, universities and other kinds of institutions will increasingly band together to produce and deliver courses for students in their member institutions. Many of these consortia will seek their own accreditation and approval.

16. The distinctions between and among public and private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions of higher education will largely disappear.

(Samuel L. Dunn, VP for Academic Affairs and a professor of business and mathematics at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, ID)