BellaOnline Forums Education Colleges Congress Looking at High Tuition Schools

U.S. legislators (some of them) appear to be very concerned with rising tuition rates. Kennedy's group has even started a "watch list" of schools with extremely high tuition rates. Will it bring tuition rates down? Who knows.

To find out which schools are at the top of the "watch list," read Oliver Staley's article, Kennedy's Tuition List Targets Harvard, Wounds Bates, in today's Bloomberg News.

Hmmm.. I hope there is some deliberation about how to bring tuition costs down (or at least more stable) as this is a huge concern right now.

There has been some fairly constant deliberation on the issue; but very little real action. That's the problem.

Of primary concern, if they do cap tuition or try to fix pricing, where is the funding to support higher education activities (instructional costs, buildings, maintenance, etc.) going to come from? Higher taxes?

My husband works at Pomona College, which is one of the schools being researched. Apparently, they are actually looking at schools with extremely large endowments. Harvard is by FAR #1, with I think Pomona #2. I guess the issue has to do with why colleges are charging students so much when they have literally billions of dollars squirreled away earning interest in the stock market.

There is also some concern that schools with so much money in the market can actually influence the market. For example, Harvard had millions and millions of dollars in new technology which they were clever enough to pull almost all out before the .com bust, because their advisors felt it couldn't last. But then you have to ask if them pulling all their money out is what CAUSED the .com bust! It's not that simple, of course, but it's something to consider.

Of course it's easy for politicians to point fingers at colleges... it doesn't cost them anything. But Pomona has only 1500 students, and several hundred top notch faculty, who because it is a college and not a University are dedicated to teaching every bit as much as research if not more. They also have staff and maintenance, etc. workers that number in the hundreds. They need to pay high-5-figures to recruit the top teachers and even sometimes staff. So if there is one staff or faculty for every two students or less, salary alone, plus massive overhead charges of maintaining a large campus, you have to wonder if what they are charging is really out of line.

AND, at least Pomona isn't just hoarding their endowment -- because it is so high, they are one of a small handful of schools that guarantees grants to cover financial aid. That is, you apply for financial aid, and basically anything beyond what FAFSA says is your contribution, plus any grants and work study, Pomona takes care of. So if it costs say $45,000, and your contribution is meant to be $4000 and you get $100n in grants, then you may be responsible for about $1000 or so in doing work study hours (which gets you work experience and offers good jobs on campus to do), but aside from that Pomona basically covers the rest. That's why they have massive applications and could only take 16% of those who apply. And I believe their admissions are need-blind.

It somehow strikes me as funny that the government is getting on these colleges for being fiscally responsible and building a financial safety net. If corporations ever did that, maybe the government wouldn't be bailing them out all the time, and they'd have more money for college grants! Again, of course it's not that simple...but in broad strokes, that's what is being discussed.

Nicki

Ahh, but there's the rub. If they place a cap, that cap won't impact only institutions with high endowments (and in Texas, they're not looking at institutions with huge endowments, they're looking at ALL institutions--especially those reporting 25 % tuition increases between one year and the next).