“Cheaper, Faster & Dumber?”  The Huffington Post’s HuffPost Live broadcast asked whether the U.S. is creating “Walmarts of Education” during a 25-minute panel discussion about online ed just a few hours before the start of the CFHE January 2014 gathering in New York.

Fred Kowal, president of United University Professions in the State University of New York, and Mike Fabricant, treasurer of the Professional Staff Congress in the City University of New York, which is hosting the gathering, explained CFHE’s concerns.

Top among those are the severe cuts in funding to public colleges and universities by states across the nation. Our public systems of higher ed need adequate funding.

They also explained that CFHE argues for quality education however it is delivered, whatever the tools that are used. The teaching methods must rise to that standard.

Students deserve good well-rounded educations and our country benefits from a well-educated citizenry.

On Friday, Huffington Post published a column highlighting the profit potential driving the push toward online higher education. The blog post by Susan Meisenhelder, professor emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino, details the way corporations and investors have followed the money in this latest trend.