A more robust view of the revenue stream: are students a tool for corporate finance?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the viewpoint that college students serve the same function as customers purchasing products from corporations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper gives comparisons and differences between the process of students learning through higher education and the process of customers buying a consumer good.

Findings

This paper recommends that while similarities exist between students and consumers, a more robust view should be maintained and communicated as a means of preserving the true nature of the academic enterprise above and beyond simple consumer activity.

Originality/value

This paper presents a clear acknowledgment that while all students consume knowledge, they are also all held to the expectation to return new knowledge. This reciprocity is not part of the ordinary consumer interchange.

Citation

Cottrell, T. (2011), "A more robust view of the revenue stream: are students a tool for corporate finance?", The Bottom Line, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 118-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880451111169160