Still, even a place like Stanford can’t ignore the growing skepticism of higher education in general, and the sense, amplified by the pandemic, that college instruction can happen even without a campus, Rascoff acknowledged.
He sees potential opportunities for Stanford to try to expand access to its offerings now that more online capacity has been developed, though he says it’s too early to say whether Stanford would consider doing something like offering an online bachelor’s degree.
“No one would argue that online is a full replacement for the in-person campus,” he said.