It’s been a few days since I linked to Inside Higher Ed, and the Internet itself was threatening to collapse. They’re got a provocative article today about university endowments, though, so disaster is averted. The author, Lynne Munson, compares colleges and universities to private foundations, and doesn’t like what she sees: A recent survey of… Continue reading Endowment Hoarding?
Category: Economics
Needling the Choir
Lest I go two days without linking to Inside Higher Ed, there’s a “Devil’s Workshop” column from Wick Sloan today, in the form of a fake letter to Congress calling for higher taxes on higher education: Perhaps it’s time for the nation to admit we are at war and to act accordingly. The immense Iraq… Continue reading Needling the Choir
Class Issues in Perspective
Yes, the unofficial Admissions Policy Month continues here at Uncertain Principles. The problem really is that it’s Admissions Season in academia, so all the navel-gazing academic journals are loaded with articles about it, which means that having wandered into talking about it, I can’t get out without a major effort of will… Today’s worthwhile article… Continue reading Class Issues in Perspective
Merit Scholarships, Threat or Menace?
This will probably cause some eye-rolling on the part of my local readers, but there’s an interesting article in Inside Higher Ed on the real effect of merit scholarships, which is the term of art for “money given to students for reasons other than financial need.” This is a hot topic, as the article notes:… Continue reading Merit Scholarships, Threat or Menace?
Science Investment and The Horizon Problem (Updated)
Apparently, it’s “economics of higher education” day here at Uncertain Principles. This time out, we have Steve Hsu on Larry Summers. (Update: I should also link to this post by Brad DeLong discussing the same article, with good stuff in the comments. And while I’m bashing free-market advocates, here’s Jonah on the worst assumption in… Continue reading Science Investment and The Horizon Problem (Updated)
The Cockeyed Economics of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed also features an opinion piece about Princteon’s tuition freeze, following my alma mater’s lead from 2000. While Princeton is larger and may carry more punch in the world of higher education than Williams, I will be very surprised if this decision triggers an onslaught of emulation. Only a tiny number of extraordinarily… Continue reading The Cockeyed Economics of Higher Education
For Some Value of “Experiment”
I’m running about a day behind on my Inside Higher Ed commentary because the ongoing search has made this a Week From Hell, but there was an interesting news item yesterday about an economic study suggesting that health care subsidies would improve education more than tuition credits: The study’s bottom line finding, in the authors’… Continue reading For Some Value of “Experiment”
What’s the Matter with Wisconsin?
Inside Higher Ed reports on an impressively bad idea from the upper midwest: “If we can’t lure them here, let’s tether them here,” said Mark O’Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, a lobbying organization, and a member of the Commission on Enhancing the Mission of the Wisconsin Colleges, a group created to advise… Continue reading What’s the Matter with Wisconsin?
The Bizarre Economics of Tuition
The Times had an article the other day about the warped economics of higher education: So early in 2000 the board [of Trustees of Ursinus College] voted to raise tuition and fees 17.6 percent, to $23,460 (and to include a laptop for every incoming student to help soften the blow). Then it waited to see… Continue reading The Bizarre Economics of Tuition
The Budget Mess
The Democrats have decided to punt on the budget, which the outgoing Republican Congress left unfinished in a childish fit of pique. Instead of completing the usual budget process, the incoming Congress plans to pass a “continuing resolution,” to fund 2007 operations of Federal agencies at the same level as 2006. See, people, this is… Continue reading The Budget Mess