Traditional students lose out as college intakes grow

By William Patrick Leonard. A number of commentators have suggested that the American tertiary community is facing a bubble reminiscent of the 2008 housing meltdown. While many underlying factors have been identified and discussed to near ad nauseam, one has been largely ignored. The bulk of the US’s non-elite tertiary institutions have employed, whether consciously or not, an unsustainable budget-balancing strategy. In sum, they have repeatedly used tuition fee increases, often exceeding the nation’s Consumer Price Index, coupled with larger student intakes, to balance their operating budgets. Read more...