by JASON LEWIS, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The knee-jerk defenders of the overpriced status quo in higher ed are on a collision course with reality. They will claim that average college graduates make more than nongrads — if they can find a job in their chosen fields — but ignore that student loan debt has risen to $1 trillion and is quickly wiping out most gains. Were it not for the massive amounts of taxpayer subsidies via state appropriations and financial aid (the $40 billion Pell Grant program now funds half of all undergrads), most universities would have long ago priced themselves out of the market. But instead of eliminating the frivolous coursework, or layer upon layer of administrative overhead (as the Wall Street Journal starkly documented last week), or universit- funded institutes designed to hype the supposed evils of, say, urban sprawl — yes, billions in endowments could be put to other uses if the benefactors were only asked — the regents, trustees, and obedient lawmakers predictably circle the wagons and hope to stave off cheaper technological competition.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/185704342.html
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