The consuming public wants inexpensive, high-quality education. As the pricing of public and private, large and small institutions tends to converge, consumers will seek information on quality. Universities that cannot sustain quality because they do not manage their costs will lose this competition. We will need to compete in what some call distance education. This is really technology-based education, whether from a distance or not.
Technology makes possible alternative delivery of information, knowledge, and understanding.
Technology reconfigures educational costs. Name-brand education can appear in any geographic area at competitive costs. Bureaucratic responses to this opportunity can prevent public universities from competing in parts of this market. In response, Florida institutions seek markets outside of the state. Anti-competitive systems and controlling bureaucracies will struggle to contain the pressures brought by scarce resources and dynamic marketplaces.