Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Why does college cost so much?

Thomas Sowell explains why in three delightful columns. More or less, the combination of government subsidies to students, government research grants, and the demands of accrediting agencies have put univerities and colleges into a paradigm where teachers do not teach, resources are diverted to "research" of dubious quality, and the size of the library matters more than the quality of the education in determining accreditation.

(if you wonder why small schools are having trouble, read that last line again)

Looking around, I notice that schools which refuse federal aid--like Hillsdale, Patrick Henry, and new Saint Andrew's--seem to be on the low end of the tuition scale, not to mention the high end of the quality scale. Hmmm.....tell me again why we have a federal department of education? Is it to prevent the same?

4 comments:

pentamom said...

Throw in there Grove City, which is ~$18,000/yr including room and board, (less than in-state tuition at Penn State) and is able to mostly draw from the top 5% of high school seniors, with an average SAT of 1269 for the current freshman class.

(Not that I have an 11th grade daughter whose 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices are Grove City, or anything.)

Bike Bubba said...

I'm hoping we can throw in a LOT of other schools. Also, I bet Momma is hoping to keep her little girl not too far from home! :^)

Anonymous said...

The beauty of it is that she doesn't WANT to go far away from home, and wouldja lookit that -- there's Grove City, one of the best education deals in the country, just 90 minutes up the road! :-) And we're even Presbyterians!!!!

Ben said...

One big reason is bloated administrations, just like bloated goverment.