Friday, February 02, 2007

How Much State-Supported College Is TOO Much?

GOP3 relays some interesting info while dissecting a tuition-increase notice from Marquette U.

The info pertains to more than just Marquette--it is noteworthy for Wisconsin taxpayers who will be funding DarthDoyle's $225 million spending-on-college program(s) in the future.

A good rule of thumb is that tuition rates will increase at about twice the general inflation rate. During any 17-year period from 1958 to 2001, the average annual tuition inflation rate was between 6% and 9%, ranging from 1.2 times general inflation to 2.1 times general inflation. On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year. An 8% college inflation rate means that the cost of college doubles every nine years.

Think about that.

UW students who are residents of Wisconsin do NOT pay the cost of their education; Wisconsin taxpayers kick in quite a bit.

It's about time for some legislator with cojones to propose a shut-down of a couple of UW campuses. River Falls? Parkside?

The GOP3 entry has a LOT more of interest to freight-payers--issues of governance, slop, inefficiency, rent-seeking...

In short, colleges are merely a form of Government in less-frenetic settings.

1 comment:

Terrence Berres said...

A state legislator was trying to cut back the overbuilt UW System. He pushed for closing UW-Superior, because (if I recall correctly) its costs are by far the highest. Since he was from the Manitowoc area, the comeback was how about closing the UW-Manitowoc. When he said he'd agree to that, the comeback was withdrawn, but he couldn't get anywhere with his point about the UW.