It makes a lot of sense that colleges and universities are stepping up to help alumni during this downturn.  See the NYTimes article on this subject in the recent SundayStyles section.

Sure, times are tough, but this practice highlights another way in which the digital revolution has fundamentally changed the way we think about roles and identity in our society.

Gone are the days where the college graduate is viewed as the end product, the final iteration of a functioning, self-sufficient adult.  That viewpoint is archaic and needlessly restrictive, today.  We are now a culture that has begun to genuinely embrace the concept of life-long learning.

So it makes perfect (community) sense that life-long learners would continue to be a part of the institutions that spawned them, and that these institutions would continue to welcome and support these alumni.

But this also makes good (business) sense.  In the networked world, we have to do everything we can to build and maintain our networks.  Keeping alumni close at hand, and beholden to their alma mater once the economy turns around (and they’re again able to contribute to the alumni fund) is smart business.

The programs highlighted in this article go a long way towards branding their institutions in a positive light.  No longer will they be perceived as detached ivory towers, inwardly focused on academics alone.  These programs establish them as caring communities that do far more than educate – they are committed to their students for life.

Businesses could learn a thing or two from this approach.