Stupid does as stupid is

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Sunday, February 13, 2005 | Colin McNickle

[F. Barnard]

No. The point of the article was that federal government subsidies increase tuition, which is largely incorrect. The tuition increases at public institutions are quite often the result of a decrease in state funding. As states cut funding for colleges, the money to operate them has to come from students. Even if they maintain the programs at the same level. If students are going to stay in school, they need the extra help from the federal government, because they're not getting it from the states anymore.

Others have posted here about tuition increases that go far, far beyond the rate of inflation. That's often because the state funding has been reduced dramatically over the last few years. In other words, state legislatures have taken away the subsidy they used to give schools (and hence students). Maybe that's good; maybe it's bad. I think FReepers will disagree on whether the state governments should be providing a subsidy here.