“Common sense is not an abundant commodity on the academic level...
Simple enough for anyone except an academic.”
I’ve always thought it had something to do with how jobs are “created” in academia. When the private sector wants to do anything, there is a maze of complexities involved (finding the right price for a product- not too high or too low, having the right number of workers to do the job- enough but not too many, factoring in regulations, taxes, future market conditions, etc.)
When academia wants to do anything, it’s simple: Raise tuition.
When you have a quasi-monopoly, it is much easier to fleece your customers.