Posted on 09/22/2016 11:12:14 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A study from the Michigan League for Public Policy says that Michigan should spend more taxpayer dollars on state universities. This would do little to lower tuition, though, until the schools stop their spending spree.
For universities, tuition and taxpayer support are revenues that pay for their expenses. The League states that cuts in taxpayer funding of universities are the culprit for tuition increases. The biggest driver for tuition increases, however, is not stagnant taxpayer support but university expenses.
Say that legislators wanted to use taxpayer money to keep tuition at what it was a decade ago. In that case, the state would need to spend another $1.5 billion, doubling what taxpayers currently spend.
Prospective students have largely ignored university sticker prices when making their selections. Easy credit (often subsidized) means that unaffordability does not limit their decisions. So universities tend to compete on things other than price. College support staff, in particular, is an ever-increasing expense.
The League makes no attempt to analyze the reasons for the increased expenses that are driving tuition up.
One day, students will be more cost conscious about the bill for higher education. That, rather than doubling taxpayer support, will provide a stronger incentive for universities to keep tuition low.
I taught for decades in the university system, including two Big Ten schools. What I’ve seen over the years is huge increases in administrators and non-teaching staff. I think this trend applies to high schools and grade schools, too, but perhaps not as much. Administrators counter that a lot of that is because the gov’t requires more reports and paper filing than ever before and it takes more people to administer that paper work.
Solution: ban the Dept of Education. It contributes nothing to the education of your kids. And while you’re on a hot streak, throw the EPA out, too. It’s done little but raise your cost of living.
More snowflake redoubts.
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