Much of the conversation on tuition fees is focused on the financial impact on students (duh). But, as this article details ( <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/the_prestige_racket.php">http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/the_prestige_racket.php</a> ) the perception of cost and quality requires universities that wish to be seen as elite systems to increase tuition. <div>
<br></div><div>Not all cost increase in education is driven by need - a good portion is driven by ego.</div><div><br></div><div>George<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 6:08 AM, Heidelberg, Chris <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Chris.Heidelberg@ssa.gov">Chris.Heidelberg@ssa.gov</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1F497D">Jeremy:</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1F497D">I am so glad that you posted this to the list serve because I
came across similar data when I was working on my dissertation several years
back because I was looking at technology as a way to save money and initially I
found that the for-profits were doing quite well, but when I dug a little
deeper I found that “real universities” were making even more real
money and most of it appeared to be based on getting students to get loans. Now
we know the truth when some financial aid folks at some of the big schools were
actually charged with colluding with the banks to make money off of students
loans. There were real convictions and real resignations. I found out even more
by looking at some of my wife’s data because her research for her
dissertation deals with a loan-based system versus a grant based one. This
article really makes some good points. Naturally, Kaplan does have an axe to
grind too being a for profit entity and arguably the most profitable arm of The
Washington Post Company. This is a problem with media consolidation and
convergence technology: the for profit media is now getting into the for profit
education game. If you do not like how the mainstream media, cable and telecoms
treat customer, you will really not be happy if they export their business
model in nicer package to higher education.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1F497D">Here is something to consider, has anyone looked at the
endowments of these schools cited. You may notice that some of the schools at
the top also have some of the biggest endowments. I haven’t checked the
latest data but I believe that the University of Texas has the biggest or one
of the biggest endowments in the world. Great job on this one Jeremy! The
banksters have really succeeded in transforming our education system into one
where students start off in debt that is extremely difficult to pay back.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1F497D">Chris A. Heidelberg, Ph.D.</span></p>
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