Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Dissatisfaction with higher education in the United States is ubiquitous. College costs continue to rise and student debt loads are becoming increasingly unsustainable, while criticisms of the quality of university education mount. Policymakers' responses have been both predictable and counterproductive: funnel increasing taxpayer resources to the traditional model of higher education while declaring war in the name of consumer protection on for-profit colleges. The Department of Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and multiple state attorneys general have led the attacks. Much of this is purely ideological--regulators simply assert that for-profit firms are suspect, whereas non-profit providers are presumed innocent. In short, regulators have rejected the most potent method for improving consumer choice and quality and reducing cost in virtually every other market--competition. In this book, the author examines the case for competition in higher education, focusing particularly on competition among different governance structures, including non-profit, for-profit, faculty control, and more. Unprofitable Schooling provides a sober and informative assessment of the state of higher education, critically covering historical assumptions, increasing government involvement, reflexive aversion to profit, and other, maybe unexpected, conclusions.
Synopsis
Most economies advance by simultaneously decreasing costs and increasing quality. Unfortunately, when it comes to higher education, this has been turned on its head. Costs keep rising while quality declines. How has this happened? What can be done?This exceptional volume looks at the issues facing higher education from the perspective of both economics and history. Each chapter explores how the lessons learned from market competition in other sectors of the economy can be applied to higher education in order to bring about innovation, improved quality, and lower costs.The opening section offers a history of for-profit education before the Morrill Act--the federal legislation that funded land-grant universities; reviews the Act's impact; and concludes with an exploration of federal student aid and how it prevents new funding options from entering the market.Section two examines higher education as it stands today--what is driving up college prices; tenure; administrative bloat; and university governance. And, the concluding third section shows how robust competition in higher education can be energized, and takes a deep look at for-profit vs. non-profit institutions.Unprofitable Schooling provides a sober and informative assessment of the state of higher education, critically covering historical assumptions, increasing government involvement, reflexive aversion to profit, and other, maybe unexpected, conclusions.