Cost Control, College Access, and Competition in Higher Education
Cost Control, College Access, and Competition in Higher Education

Author: Robert Edward Martin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781781958308

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This book is much more interesting, and more important, than its technical-sounding title might suggest. It combines rigorous economic analysis with thoughtful conclusions as to the public purposes and organisational priorities of higher education. Paul Temple, Institute of Education, UK The book provides an interesting blend of conceptual, theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects on costs of higher education that are key to understanding how higher education institutions operate. The author examines in detail the complexities involved in the application of principles of firms to academic institutions, such as pricing, cost functions, product functions, quality, product differentiation, subsidies, competition, technology, risk bearing, etc. The examination of how charity market works, the economic forces that explain the demand for and supply of endowment funds is quite insightful. By emphasizing the public good nature of higher education, the social purpose it serves, the principle of equality in higher education, the principle of social contract, erosion of public trust, etc., while addressing a broad set of standard issues in economics of higher education relating to costs and quality of higher education, the book indeed forms a special reading on the subject. Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration Quality has never been more important for the future of higher education and the economy than it is today. Unfortunately, the decline in student quality is accompanied by costs that are out of control, a governance system that will not permit any reallocation of resources, and a society that expects higher education to address problems that are well beyond its core competencies. In this timely volume, Robert E. Martin presents a thorough treatment of the social contract between those who fund higher education and those who benefit from it. In-depth discussions include: the institution s role as steward of the higher education social contract the role of transaction costs, risk bearing, production technology, and asset ownership in determining the internal structure of the institution the market for academic charities price, quality, and advertising competition in higher education. Formal models of production and cost, optimal fundraising, the maximization of academic reputation, agency behavior, and the student's enrollment decision are also presented and analyzed. Cost Control, College Access, and Competition in Higher Education will be of great interest to higher education researchers and administrators, economists, and public policymakers.

The College Cost Disease
The College Cost Disease

Author: Robert E. Martin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1849806179

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College cost per student has been on the rise at a pace that matches - or exceeds - healthcare costs. Unlike healthcare, though, teaching quality has declined, and rapidly rising costs and declining quality are not trends easily forgiven by society. The College Cost Disease addresses these problems, providing a behavioral framework for the chronic cost/quality consequences with which higher education is fraught. Providing many compelling insights into the issues plaguing higher education, Robert Martin expounds upon H. R. Bowen's revenue theory of cost by detailing experience good theory, the principal/agent problem, and non-profit status. Reputation competition dominates higher education. Students and their parents, and public opinion in general, associate higher tuition with higher quality and greater accolades; price is used as a proxy for quality only when consumers are uncertain about quality prior to purchase. Higher education services are the most complex types of ?experience goods'; a service whose quality can only be determined after a purchase has been made. Applying formal economic theory to higher education, Robert Martin examines how and why attempts to control costs are controversial and the damaging effects these controversies have on institutions' reputations. Arguing that the college access problem cannot be solved until colleges and universities find a way to control their costs, this book brings to the fore the leading ideas that will bring about much-needed budgetary reform in higher education.

A Problem of Fit
A Problem of Fit

Author: Phillip B. Levine

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-04-22

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0226818551

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"A college education doesn't come with a sticker price. Maybe it should. Millions of Americans miss out on the economic benefits of a college education because of concerns around the costs. Financial aid systems offer limited help and produce uneven distributions. In the United States today, the systems meant to improve access to education have added a new layer of deterrence. In Mismatch, economist Philip B. Levine examines the role of financial aid systems in facilitating (and discouraging) access to college. If markets require prices in order to function optimally, then the American higher-education system--rife as it is with hidden and variable costs--amounts to a market failure. It's a problem of price transparency, not just affordability. Ensuring that students understand exactly what college will cost, including financial aid, could lift the lid on not only college attendance for more people, but for greater representation across demographics and institutions. As Levine illustrates, our conversations around affordability and free tuition miss a larger truth: that the opacity of our current college-financing systems is a primary driver of inequities in education and society. Mismatch offers a bold, trenchant new argument for an educational reform that is well within reach"--

Why Does College Cost So Much?
Why Does College Cost So Much?

Author: Robert B. Archibald

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-11-10

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 019978132X

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Much of what is written about colleges and universities ties rapidly rising tuition to dysfunctional behavior in the academy. Common targets of dysfunction include prestige games among universities, gold plated amenities, and bloated administration. This book offers a different view. To explain rising college cost, the authors place the higher education industry firmly within the larger economic history of the United States. The trajectory of college cost is similar to cost behavior in many other industries, and this is no coincidence. Higher education is a personal service that relies on highly educated labor. A technological trio of broad economic forces has come together in the last thirty years to cause higher education costs, and costs in many other industries, to rise much more rapidly than the inflation rate. The main culprit is economic growth itself. This finding does not mean that all is well in American higher education. A college education has become less reachable to a broad swathe of the American public at the same time that the market demand for highly educated people has soared. This affordability problem has deep roots. The authors explore how cost pressure, the changing wage structure of the US economy, and the complexity of financial aid policy combine to reduce access to higher education below what we need in the 21st century labor market. This book is a call to calm the rhetoric of blame and to instead find policies that will increase access to higher education while preserving the quality of our colleges and universities.

Transformational Change in Higher Education
Transformational Change in Higher Education

Author: Madeleine d'Ambrosio

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 1847208592

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This is a compelling and important text that presents both the complexity and the barriers confronting higher education in this global moment. Solutions will prize innovation, resilient leadership unifying diverse campus subcultures, and most certainly intellectual and academic integrity. This text begins to outline the new agenda. Richard Guarasci, Wagner College, US In Transformational Change in Higher Education, the TIAA-CREF Institute has brought together some of today s best minds to address the issues that every educational leader and policy maker should be thinking about. The topics range from financing to competition to financial aid to costs and pricing to faculty turnover to accountability to the roles presidents and boards must play. Lessons in transformation are provided by respected leaders from all segments of higher education. George R. Boggs, American Association of Community Colleges, US This is essential reading for everyone who cares about the future of higher education and is a priceless reference for those who are its leaders. The conversations not only cover each issue from a national perspective but also consider the specific strategies that have been employed by individual institutions to address it. Thus the volume is at the same time both reflective and practical. Sharon P. Smith, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, US This volume delves into the financing of institutional operations with entrepreneurial leaders and is a useful addition to any university administrator s reading list if they are struggling with modern financial challenges. David W. Pershing, University of Utah, US The volume, part of the TIAA-CREF Institute Series on Higher Education, is based on a national conference, Transformational Change in Higher Education: Positioning Your Institution for Future Success, which was convened by the TIAA-CREF Institute in November 2006. This unique volume discusses the management of transformational change in higher education as a key element of success. With input from researchers, presidents, provosts, and other senior leaders of the higher education community, this edited volume explores transformational change in a range of institutions from small teaching and community colleges to large comprehensive research universities. The role of entrepreneurial leaders and their interactions with trustees, policymakers and the public, are discussed, as are strategic issues such as financing college and university operations and student access, as related to pricing. The editors maintain that managing change in these areas impacts both an institution s balance sheet and ultimate success in realizing its vision. In this book, higher education presidents, chancellors, provosts, CFOs and governing boards will find new and actionable information to enhance decision-making and inform strategic planning. Association leadership will be provided with a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by their membership and possible responses. Researchers and practitioners in education, public policy, business, management and entrepreneurship interested in the business of higher education will find much of value.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education

Author: Miriam E. David

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 4051

ISBN-13: 1529725917

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Higher Education is in a state of ferment. People are seriously discussing whether the medieval ideal of the university as being excellent in all areas makes sense today, given the number of universities that we have in the world. Student fees are changing the orientation of students to the system. The high rate of non repayment of fees in the UK is provoking difficult questions about whether the current system of funding makes sense. There are disputes about the ratio of research to teaching, and further discussions about the international delivery of courses.

Tuition Rising
Tuition Rising

Author: Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 0674034430

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America’s colleges and universities are the best in the world. They are also the most expensive. Tuition has risen faster than the rate of inflation for the past thirty years. There is no indication that this trend will abate. Ronald G. Ehrenberg explores the causes of this tuition inflation, drawing on his many years as a teacher and researcher of the economics of higher education and as a senior administrator at Cornell University. Using incidents and examples from his own experience, he discusses a wide range of topics including endowment policies, admissions and financial aid policies, the funding of research, tenure and the end of mandatory retirement, information technology, libraries and distance learning, student housing, and intercollegiate athletics. He shows that colleges and universities, having multiple, relatively independent constituencies, suffer from ineffective central control of their costs. And in a fascinating analysis of their response to the ratings published by magazines such as U.S. News & World Report, he shows how they engage in a dysfunctional competition for students. In the short run, colleges and universities have little need to worry about rising tuitions, since the number of qualified students applying for entrance is rising even faster. But in the long run, it is not at all clear that the increases can be sustained. Ehrenberg concludes by proposing a set of policies to slow the institutions’ rising tuitions without damaging their quality.

The Innovative University
The Innovative University

Author: Clayton M. Christensen

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-07-26

Total Pages: 519

ISBN-13: 1118063481

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The Innovative University illustrates how higher education can respond to the forces of disruptive innovation , and offers a nuanced and hopeful analysis of where the traditional university and its traditions have come from and how it needs to change for the future. Through an examination of Harvard and BYU-Idaho as well as other stories of innovation in higher education, Clayton Christensen and Henry Eyring decipher how universities can find innovative, less costly ways of performing their uniquely valuable functions. Offers new ways forward to deal with curriculum, faculty issues, enrollment, retention, graduation rates, campus facility usage, and a host of other urgent issues in higher education Discusses a strategic model to ensure economic vitality at the traditional university Contains novel insights into the kind of change that is necessary to move institutions of higher education forward in innovative ways This book uncovers how the traditional university survives by breaking with tradition, but thrives by building on what it's done best.

Higher Education, Public Good and Markets
Higher Education, Public Good and Markets

Author: Jandhyala B. G. Tilak

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-10-16

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1351379836

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This book critically examines some of the major trends in the development of higher education. It demonstrates how in the context of liberalisation, globalisation and marketisation, the crisis in higher education has assumed different dimensions in all advanced and emerging societies. The author shows how the state tends to slowly withdraw from the responsibility of higher education, including in the arena of policy-making, or simply adopts a policy of laissez-faire (of non-involvement) which helps in the rapid unbridled growth of private sector in higher education. The notion of higher education as a public good is under serious contestation in current times. The book argues for the need to resurrect the compelling nature of higher education along with its several implications for public policy and planning, while providing a broad portrayal of global developments, comparative perspectives and key lessons. The volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of education, political science, public policy and administration, governance, development studies, economics, and those working in the higher education sectors, think-tanks, policymakers as well as NGOs.