[quote]Ann Coulter wrote:
How about investigating the “shameful display of greed” by college professors?
[/quote]
Oh boy…
Tuition costs have NOTHING to do with our salaries. Colleges do NOT increase professor’s salaries when tuition increases, nor we have any say when defining tuition – much like the attendant at the gas pump has no saying on gas prices.
If you want to compare greedy CEOs to DEANS, PROVOSTS and PRESIDENTS of colleges, fine. But not to us poor college professors (you’d be amazed how low my salary is – I make most of my income through book and research rights and consulting work).
Tuition costs have been going up because the costs for colleges have been going up, but not because of professors; everything from maintenance costs, land costs, research costs, renovation costs, equipment costs, IT infrastructure costs, sports teams costs, etc. has been skyrocketing.
This is in great part a fruit of competition. Yes, it’s true: when it comes to colleges, competition INCREASES tuition costs. Why? Because colleges have to spend millions attracting students, and since demand for college is very price inelastic (but very marketing / public image elastic) increasing tuition costs is a natural thing.
For those unfamiliar with the concepts of demand elasticity, let me give Stanford as example: even though we’ve steadily increased tuition costs, demand (applications) have been steadily increasing. Why? Because we are regarded VERY highly, and students know that if they come here and graduate they WILL have a six-figure salary job and a promising career waiting for them at the door…
Why? Because Stanford IS one of the top colleges on the PLANET. Along with the whole UC system and the Ivy League schools, we make up a group of colleges that are well known and highly respected everywhere. And that is worth a lot of money.
(seriously – I have yet to meet an adult human being on this planet who has NOT heard of Stanford University. Now THAT’S marketing)
There are only two ways of forcing a reduction in tuition costs: a) through Government intervention – capping the tuition costs AND the marketing efforts. b) Through a widespread change in culture that would convince companies that Stanford alumni are worth no more no less than Community College alumni, even though quite possibly 80% of the US-educated people on company boards are either Ivy League, Stanford or UC alumni.