thanks, for the post
Posted on 10/23/2013 8:26:39 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
Academics tend to circle the wagons when you suggest that Pell grant increases lead to tuition hikes. “There has been research on this that shows that Pell grants have not led to higher tuition,” Judith Scott-Clayton, of Columbia alleged in a forum at the National Press Club Monday.
Scott-Clayton is an assistant professor of economics and education at Teacher’s College at Columbia. She spoke at a forum sponsored by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
On the same panel, Gail Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College, claimed that, “One of the reasons tuition keeps going up has been a wholesale disinvestment in higher education by government.” Actually, neither claim holds up very well.
“College tuition and fees climbed once again this year, but the burden was tempered for some students and their families by a big jump in federal aid, according to a new report by the nonprofit College Board,” Stephanie Branchero reported in the Wall Street Journal in 2010. “The average price of tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year institutions is $7,605 this school year, a 7.9% increase over last year.”
“At private nonprofit colleges and universities, the average price is $27,293, a 4.5% rise. Two-year state colleges saw a 6% rise to $2,713. Students occupy the hallway outside the office of the university chancellor at University of California Los Angeles to protest education funding cuts and rising tuition on March 4.”
“But the federal government gave out $28.2 billion in Pell grants to students in the 2009-10 school year, almost $10 billion more than the previous year.”
“The Pell grant program is the largest federal program for college students, with support to over three million students at more than 6000 institutions,” Larry D. Singell and Joe A. Stone, Jr. wrote in an study for the Economics of Education Review in 2007. “A prominent question in public debate is whether Pell grants tend to be appropriated by universities through increases in tuition–consistent with what is known as the Bennett hypothesis. Based on a panel of 1554 colleges and universities from 1989 to 1996, we find little evidence of the Bennett hypothesis for in-state tuition for public universities. For private universities, though, increases in Pell grants appear to be matched nearly one for one by increases in list (and net) tuition. Results for out-of-state tuition for public universities are similar to those for private universities, suggesting that they behave more like private ones in setting out-of-state tuition. Institutional responses in these latter cases appear at odds with federal grants-in-aid policy.”
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org.
Yes it makes sense. Here in CA the governor moonbeam doubled the price I hear of classes that are most needed. Grants give and the government takes away.
Research conducted by academics with a vested interest in that result.
What is wrong with commenting on it right here?
Yes. If there were not free money available for universities, their rates would have to reflect market forces. Young people wouldn’t feel compelled to get a college education, most of which they will not use. I mean, who exactly hires Black Studies majors? Or Feminism majors? And do students really learn to think in those studies?
Lefties have pushed hard for ‘everyone should go to college’ so they can have another four years to brainwash our youth into their Commie way of thinking.
Market forces would help the university system no end. What if they didn’t have enough research money to research how long animals pee on the average (as was reported yesterday). What if they didn’t get raises every year and union benefits for life, care of We the People?
Pell Grants and student loans are part and parcel of enabling this system, which is built upon sand, to grow way beyond its usefulness.
Of course....When somebody else is paying for, you don’t care how much it costs....Same with medical insurance.
Absolutely nothing. Go right ahead, hopefully on the information in the article.
“If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org.”
You: What is wrong with commenting on it right here?
That statement was part of the article, not a comment by the poster.
Pell Grants and federal student loans. If Colleges and Universities had to depend solely of what families and students can actually afford tutions would be a fraction of what they are today. And colleges and universities wouldn’t be funding all these extremist left wing nutball programs like woman’s studie, black studies etc.
The radio news this morning was that higher education tuition increases were less than they had been in years at less than 3%. The news report suggested that this reduction in increase corresponded to a decrease in government grants.
Of course it does, more money in search of goods and services always leads to higher prices.
In education, it’s getting to the point of being riduculous.
The cost of ANY item will always equal what people are willing/able to pay for it PLUS any subsidies.
If people are only willing/able to pay $5,000 a year for college that’s what it would cost if the market were left alone. BUT if the government gives out $30,000 a year in loans and grants, the cost will be $35,000 a year.
People are funny. When your insurance company is charged more you tend not to care because there is a disconnect. You don't immediately understand you are, in fact, paying more because your insurance passes on the cost on to you.
There are essentially two types of inflation: An increase in the money supply without backing that causes an inflation in prices and easy credit that also allows for an increase in prices.
We saw easy credit inflate house prices and we have been seeing for many years the inflation of tuition due to easy credit for tuition payment, i.e. government backed loans and state and federal grants.
There will be a bubble burst with student loans. There will not be enough grants to go around, and tuition will have to fall or the schools will have to be nationalized (in essence they already are) and open to all. Once everyone has a meaningless degree, there will be no advantage to having a diploma. Simple supply and demand; if everyone has one they become worthless though the obtaining will be expensive because everyone will want one. Odd that.
The reason they say Pel Grants do not cause a raise in tuition is because the amount of money awarded diminishes the closer to graduation you get.
prices in any market will rise to absorb all available monies made available to that market. - pudlo’s law of economics
When I went to college in the 80s my tuition was $1000/yr for undergraduate. Now tuition is $20,000/yr at the same school. And that’s considered cheap.
Also, the influx of foreign students with rich parents who can afford pay the full freight is another factor.
Any and all free money raises tuition. No one cares about the cost of something if they are not the ones paying for it, and those charging will charge whatever those paying will hand over.
I predict more Americans will be looking at going to foreign Universities, which can offer cheaper tuition.
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