Page 209 - Crisis in Higher Education

180 • Crisis in Higher Education

TABLE 9.2
Discussing Why Public Colleges and Universities Should Have Tuition Subsidies
Eliminated or Dramatically Reduced
Stated Reason Supporting Logic Counter-Point
1. More subsidies Providing subsidies takes the Subsidies help low- and
means more pressure off administrators moderate-income families
wasteful spending and faculty to seek out and afford higher education.
implement less costly,
higher quality, and more
effective, ways to educate
students.
2. Link between Data seem to indicate that The limited correlation may be
higher education the correlation between affected by the law of
subsidies and spending on higher diminishing returns and
economic growth education and economic wasteful spending in higher
is tenuous at best growth is low. education.
3. Earning advantage Evidence shows that Section 2.7 in Chapter 2
of university university graduates do considers whether a
graduates is earn more than high school university degree is a good
overstated graduates. These data are investment. The analysis
available in Table 4.1 in shows that, on the average,
Chapter 4. The point of the it has a favorable return on
detractors is that the investment, even though the
advantage for college return is lower when tuition
graduates does not consider costs and lost wages are
the cost of earning the included.
degree or four years of lost
wages while attending.

offer bachelor’s degrees and accept no government funding, are substan-
tially cheaper than the average cost of private colleges and universities. 16,18
The attitude surrounding higher education has been to “spend, spend,
spend,” and generally speaking, society encourages borrowing to acquire
more goods and services. These attitudes and actions create a system where
high school graduates and their parents believe they must borrow to afford
an advanced degree. 19
A study by the New York Federal Reserve claims that subsides are
20
“enabling college institutions to aggressively raise tuitions.” For every
dollar of loan that students or parents incur to pay tuition, 65 cents is
consumed without increasing service or quality. Considering that the
increases in tenured faculty have lagged behind enrollment growth, the
assumption must be that administration, bureaucracy, and spending on