Student Loan Forgiveness: Uncle Sam’s Generosity Will Cost Much More than Previously Estimated

Dec 16, 2016 · · Comments Off on Student Loan Forgiveness: Uncle Sam’s Generosity Will Cost Much More than Previously Estimated

When politicians and Education Department bureaucrats began designing policies to lessen college students’ federal loan burdens, they weren’t concerned much with the cost to the taxpayers. Their imperative was coming up with popular and ostentatious ways of helping indebted students; exactly how much doing so would drain the Treasury was of little consequence. At the … Continue reading “Student Loan Forgiveness: Uncle Sam’s Generosity Will Cost Much More than Previously Estimated”

Will We, at Last, Do Something About Accreditation?

Nov 30, 2016 · · Comments Off on Will We, at Last, Do Something About Accreditation?

Accreditation is supposed to act as a quality guarantee for colleges and universities, but it works very poorly. Students can and regularly do graduate from accredited schools without having learned anything. It’s as if toasters with the Underwriters Laboratories seal were prone to shorting out and catching fire. We know, for example, that a large … Continue reading “Will We, at Last, Do Something About Accreditation?”

Students Need Much Better Counseling Before Going Into Debt for College

Nov 23, 2016 · · Comments Off on Students Need Much Better Counseling Before Going Into Debt for College

American college students have taken to saying that they need “safe spaces” on campus. They really don’t, since all they’re after is “safety” from ideas they dislike. But if they were thinking ahead to life after graduation, many might wonder if they’ll need a safe space when the bills for their college loans start coming … Continue reading “Students Need Much Better Counseling Before Going Into Debt for College”

College Faculties Are Mostly Leftist and Becoming More So

Nov 11, 2016 · · Comments Off on College Faculties Are Mostly Leftist and Becoming More So

A paper recently published in Econ Journal Watch, “Faculty Voter Registration in Economics, History, Journalism, Law, and Psychology,” shows that something almost everyone believes to be true—that college faculties in the social sciences are predominantly left of center—is in fact true. More than that, however it shows that this is more true in some fields and … Continue reading “College Faculties Are Mostly Leftist and Becoming More So”

The Burden of Uncle Sam’s “Generosity” Towards College Students

Oct 19, 2016 · · Comments Off on The Burden of Uncle Sam’s “Generosity” Towards College Students

It was a bad idea for the federal government ever to get into the business of financing college with its various grants and loans, but at least in the old days, most of the money loaned was eventually repaid. Now that the overselling of higher education has boiled over, politicians are eager to show their … Continue reading “The Burden of Uncle Sam’s “Generosity” Towards College Students”

The New College Cheating: Why Not Buy Your Degree?

Oct 12, 2016 · · Comments Off on The New College Cheating: Why Not Buy Your Degree?

Like hospital “superbugs” that grow increasingly deadly and difficult to kill, cheating by college students keeps morphing into new and more virulent forms. Notes hidden away under a shirt cuff during an exam or plagiarizing a few paragraphs to pad a paper are minor league stuff compared with the new kinds of cheating that students … Continue reading “The New College Cheating: Why Not Buy Your Degree?”

The Education Department Gives ITT the Death Penalty

Oct 5, 2016 · · Comments Off on The Education Department Gives ITT the Death Penalty

Foremost among the criticisms of the way our administrative law system works is that bureaucratic agencies get to act as lawmaker, judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one. That is completely at odds with the way the Founders thought government should function, a point made with great power by Professor Philip Hamburger in his … Continue reading “The Education Department Gives ITT the Death Penalty”

No, the Clinton Plan Won’t “Fix College”

Sep 21, 2016 · · Comments Off on No, the Clinton Plan Won’t “Fix College”

Hillary Clinton’s higher education policy ideas have been taking a lot of criticism. Here, for example, is an analysis by economics professor Gary Wolfram, published in May by the Pope Center. And here’s my take. Apparently, opposition to Clinton’s proposals is sufficiently worrisome to Democrats that on September 10, Robert Shireman (undersecretary in the Department of Education … Continue reading “No, the Clinton Plan Won’t “Fix College””

The Education Trust Falls for the Chivas Regal Effect

Sep 16, 2016 · · Comments Off on The Education Trust Falls for the Chivas Regal Effect

One of the pillars of our education establishment, The Education Trust, recently published a report that’s meant to pressure colleges and universities with large endowments into spending more of their earnings on one of its pet causes—very low or even free tuition for students from poorer families. Entitled “A Glimpse Inside the Coffers: Endowment Spending … Continue reading “The Education Trust Falls for the Chivas Regal Effect”

The University of Chicago’s Support for Free Speech Sparks Opposition

Sep 14, 2016 · · Comments Off on The University of Chicago’s Support for Free Speech Sparks Opposition

Last month, just before the new academic year began, the University of Chicago’s dean of students, John Ellison, sent a letter (reproduced in this piece) to all incoming students. It was meant to reaffirm the university’s commitment to free speech and inform the students that they shouldn’t expect the academic environment at Chicago to include … Continue reading “The University of Chicago’s Support for Free Speech Sparks Opposition”