Quote of the Day: Skyrocketing Costs in Higher Ed

Here it is, folks:

The cost-spiral in higher education over the last several decades has not been warranted by improvements in the quality of actual education.  It has been driven by excessive federal subsidy in the forms of student loans; by a buyer psychology that led many families to think that college was a virtually risk-free investment; by colleges and universities that chose to compete with each other in expensive amenities atmospherics rather than academic substance; and by a spirit of grandiosity.

Do read the whole thing.  The comparison to the bursting bubble of tulipomania is all too apt.  Also?  I can't tell you how maddening it is to see university after university spend a gazillion dollars on crazy amenities instead of substance.  Oh, yes, let's build (insert loopy feel-good project here) while we let the libraries molder and fall into dust.  (Oh, even better, let's spend a gazillion dollars making sure the admin have huge posh offices with all the tip-top modern conveniences and ever-inflating six-figure salaries while adjuncts and lecturers -- you know, the people who actually teach -- cram into shared cramped offices and have to work on a shoestring budget with a shoestring paycheck.)