Overpriced colleges
Press-Telegram 1/20/07
First, of course, would be to forget about overpriced private colleges or universities and attend the university where he is president, Cal State Long Beach, which offers a first-rate education for bargain rates. But the issue is more complex than that.
Alexander makes a strong case for full disclosure,which most for-profit colleges and even some nonprofits oppose vigorously. Here's why. The sticker price tells you little about what's really going on.
The difference between the posted tuition rate and the actual average cost of attendance can be huge, but the institution doesn't want either the federal government or parents to know it. Grants and loans are based on posted tuition, and the college wants to keep the cash flowing even if that means students and parents have to go deeply into debt.
Sound like a scam? Alexander is too discrete to put it that way, but we aren't. Some of these colleges and all of the banks are profit-driven, and student loans are guaranteed by the federal government. Nobody is at risk but consumers and taxpayers.
What's worse, some consumers are so naive they actually choose a college because of high tuition, assuming it must be better. That's further incentive to hike tuitions.
In an essay published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Alexander offered three suggestions: Colleges should be required to post their average cost of attendance, not the inflated one; the government should penalize states that cut support of higher education knowing the feds will help make up the difference; and the states should have to give strong support if they want federal help.
These ideas should appeal to liberals, who want broad access to higher education, as well as conservatives, who may share that goal but also want to stop the scamming.
Also, the U.S. is falling behind other nations in extending higher education to students with potential but little money, and California is getting less than its share of federal money because its public universities and colleges have low tuition rates.
Don't expect any help from the Ted Kennedy variety of East Coast politicians, whose public colleges are weak and private ones are strong; they think the system is just fine. And don't assume the Ivy Leaguers will broaden access; at Harvard University, for example, only 6 percent of students are eligible for low-income grants, compared to 36 percent in the Cal State system.
The California congressional delegation ought to work together on this issue of stabilizing tuition costs as a bipartisan project, because in the long term, both the state and the nation would benefit.
But students need relief from sticker shock now.