CURBING THOSE CRUSHING COLLEGE COSTS

By James N. Sites

It’s September again, which means that all across America college-bound youngsters and their parents face another grueling shakedown from a vicious “pass the buck” higher-education cost travesty. But courage! fellow citizens, there IS hope….

The problem all of us face is that universities seem to be mired down in a medieval management structure. The farce begins with constantly escalating across-the-board schooling costs, which college chiefs have few real incentives to control. For instance, when faculties demand higher and higher pay for teaching fewer and fewer hours, why should administrators say NO and go through a nasty confrontation when they can simply pass the extra costs on to students in higher tuition and fees?

College leaders also know that few outsiders and no politicians dare criticize academia. After all, isn’t this the citadel of learning, and aren’t such folks our national “thought leaders”? Isn’t it THEY who know what’s best for the masses (not to mention for themselves)?

Now enters Washington. The politicians’ “solution” (pushed and applauded by academia): Ever bigger and ever more generous government-backed student loan programs. A solution? Someone’s got to be kidding! Such loans in practice actually mean saddling the young with a horrendous debt burden that takes years, even decades, to pay off.

So how does the nation break this vicious cycle of constantly increasing higher-education costs being loaded onto a suffering public? Here’s one action suggestion:

Congress should amend student loan legislation to require that no government-guaranteed loan can be used at any college whose total annual costs to students (tuition, dormitory, books, fees, etc) exceed the BLS Cost of Living Index.

One can already hear the deafening howls of protest from higher-education sources. Nevertheless, a long-abused and overburdened public might – just might – see colleges begin to implement effective cost-cutting and efficiency-boosting measures. A real incentive to do so will finally have arrived. Then, hopefully, the cost buck- passing will stop where it belongs: Right in the college executive office.

Are you listening, academia? You, too, Washington? Anyone?

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