1. rising demand 'exacerbated by soaring third-party payments....When someone else pays the bills, we become less sensitive to price.'

2. lack of market discipline 'How many universities advertise that they are cheaper than their peers?'

3. de-emphasizing undergraduate instruction 'Government subsidies and private gifts given to support affordable undergraduate instruction are often spent elsewhere.'

4. price discrimination "Universities have discovered what airlines realized a generation ago--and they increasingly charge the maximum the customer will bear. They have raised sticker prices, giving discounts (scholarships) to those who are sensitive to price. Increasingly, these discounts go not mainly to low-income students but to talented students prized by universities seeking to improve ratings on the athletic field or in the U.S. News & World Report rankings." [Oh, swell. I have never in my life bought a first-class ticket on an airplane, but I will be buying a first-class ticket to college.]

5. stagnant (falling?) productivity 'There are now six non-teaching professionals for every 100 students, up from three a generation ago. Unless teaching and research have soared in quantity and quality, which seems unlikely, productivity has fallen.'

6. 'rent seeking' behavior: better lives for the staff Salaries of full professors at research universities are up well over 50% in real terms since 1980. Mid-six-figure salaries are becoming commonplace for superstar faculty, coaches, and university presidents. Teaching loads have fallen...' [full disclosure: I'm not exactly heartsick over this development.]

The solutions portion of the op-ed is shorter than the problems portion. (No surprise there. Personally, I'd rank the More-problems-than-solutions principle right up there with Newton's Law of Gravity.)

He says this situation can't go on forever, because costs can't continue to rise faster than incomes forever.

Then he suggests vouchers.

Community Colleges vs. Kaplan

He quit to work at Kaplan, where he makes more than he did at his community college. He's earning $40,000 to $50,000 a year at Kaplan & has health benefits to boot.


Alan Greenspan on rising inequality
rising inequality, part 2
rising inequality, part 3
median income families UCSC students
another statistics question
channeling the Wall Street Journal
Financial Times on US college costs
Economist on US higher ed
The Economist on rising inequality in universities

Back to main page.