I know I’ve posted about the high cost of college in the past, but this critical issue must be kept at the forefront. It is just one of many education concerns we need to address as we try to improve education in our nation. In the past the quality of education in the United States was the best in the world; today we rank twenty-sixth (26th)!
YES – twenty-five (25) other countries have surpassed us! So, so sad.
Over the past 35 years, public college tuition skyrocketed 12 times, doubling the rate of medical cost increases and quadrupling the rate of inflation. There were no legislative hearings on controlling costs, no action taken by state boards to reduce spending, and no changes in the way universities were managed.
The results were catastrophic — a $1.3 trillion student-loan debt — college access limited for millions, their daily spending ability curtailed, and their capability to make major purchases delayed. The suggestion by Lou Bissette, chairman of University of North Carolina Board of Governors, for the state to raise the limit on the percentage of out-of-state students won’t solve the problem.
Universities don’t need more money; they have a spending problem. The Board of Governors needs to face reality and force universities to spend less — change the way they do business, reduce administrative costs, eliminate deadwood faculty, and cut frivolous courses — without affecting the quality of education. It can and must be done!! Students can no longer afford business as usual.
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Please feel free to share your ideas on ways universities can better manage and/or reduce operational costs without reducing quality. It can be done and it is past time for them focus on cost reductions. Otherwise we will have fewer and fewer citizens able to obtain a college education!
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