At Michigan, for example, former students keep their university e-mail address for life. Such is the interest of the alumni that University of Michigan football matches attract a regular home game crowd of 111,000. Former students will travel hundreds of miles to see their old college team play. A pay-TV service of college sport is one of many commercial ideas the university is considering. The growing Americanisation of our universities may be inevitable, but there are costs.
Undergraduates are the cash-cows of American universities, herded through vast, impersonal courses.
The spread of internet lecture note services has even taken away the need for students to turn up on campus at all. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Education stories are at the foot of the page.