RUMOR - Biden to announce cancellation of student debt

[Belsnickel]

(08-24-2022, 10:05 AM)Dill Wrote: Pally, I usually agree with you, but not this time, at least with your assessment of what is driving college costs higher.

People often view universities as "businesses" which simply respond to market signals. That's not quite true, especially for public universities.

The most direct driver of tuition rise, especially in public universities, is their steady defunding. 

E.g., in most states, public universities cannot decide their own tuition rates, like corporations charging whatever the market will bear. Rather, state legislatures do that, and also determine their budgets. Since the 1980s, there has been a concerted effort on the part of the American right to make universities more and more market dependent, in part by eroding tenure and academic freedom--thus undermining an institutional source of "leftism." From the 60s onward, Republicans began defunding universities and pushing business "alliances" to make up for the lost income, and to make their research programs more responsive to business needs and ideology.

There are other drivers as well, to the degree that universities, while not businesses, have become more and more like them, competing for students with brand new dorms with student "suites" and exercise gyms. Also, Administrations have become more top heavy, in some cases to the point that administrators outnumber faculty by 2-1.  But first and foremost is the public defunding.

So, I will comment a bit on this. I don't know if schools can't set their own tuition in most places. I haven't really researched it in other states. How it works here is that we have a cap on how much we can increase tuition rates but each college/university has rates set by their governor-appointed Board of Visitors. State legislatures also don't usually set the budgets for schools, but they do allocate the funding. It's a fine line of a difference, but it is one.

Now, top-heavy administrations and defunding are absolutely on point. I want to expand a little on the "competition" for students you mention. That is absolutely what it is, but it goes far beyond what most people even think about. Going to college is considered to be a more holistic experience than it was 40-50 years ago. It isn't just about the classes but the overall student life. We rank nationally for our food, and that's a point of pride for us. The options for student recreation, student activities, etc., etc. All of these things are a part of what universities do to try to improve the life of the student to draw them in. But it definitely costs money and it's what the market demands.