Charging U
Larry Bernstein
Why is college so expensive? Charging U explores the causes of high college tuition. If you want to know where all your money is going and why college costs so much more now than it did in the past, join host Larry Bernstein as he looks at how individual pricing, government policy, rankings, endowments, loans, luxurious amenities, administrative bloat, athletics, research, and other factors affect the price we pay for college.
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Top 10 Charging U Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Charging U episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Charging U for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Charging U episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
01/31/24 • 35 min
In this episode, we discuss:
- Individual pricing, the most important factor contributing to the rise of tuition sticker price at private colleges and universities.
- The effect of economic surplus, market segmentation, and enrollment management in setting a price to extract the maximum amount of current and future wealth from a student and family.
- How the relative increase in wealth of the top 5-10% both here and abroad and the desire for prestige has led to an increased demand for the static number of seats at selective colleges allowing them to increase the tuition they charge.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay.
02/14/24 • 24 min
Influential rankings are based on the wealth of an institution, not how much students learn. This incentivizes colleges to maximize income in order to remain competitive.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonstudiomusic via Pixabay
03/20/24 • 18 min
Climbing walls and lazy river pools are conspicuous and attract much attention but add relatively little to the cost of attendance. On the other hand, colleges have been raising the prices they charge for housing at a rate much higher than inflation. The building boom on campuses has expanded space greater than the increase in student enrollment and has been very expensive.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay.
03/27/24 • 21 min
Wealth inequality among universities enables the rich to get richer. The design of college endowments limits the extent to which they can be used to reduce tuition for everyone.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay
7. Do Professors' Salaries and Baumol (Service) Cost Disease Explain Why College Costs So Much?
Charging U
02/28/24 • 16 min
Service fields such as higher education do not experience large improvements in efficiency so the cost of providing that service rises.
The salaries of professors may contribute a minor amount to the rising cost of college; however, reduced teaching loads and other perks are more important factors which cause the price of tuition to go up.
01/31/24 • 23 min
In this episode, we examine public colleges and universities and discuss:
- The high variability in higher education funding between states.
- How state appropriations dropped during the decade of the 2000s causing public colleges to make up for the shortfall by raising tuition.
- How the decrease in state appropriations explains only a part of the reason tuition was increased.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay.
1. The Problem of High College Tuition
Charging U
01/31/24 • 16 min
Once upon a time, Americans had access to affordable higher education and could pay for it by working while in college. This promoted social mobility. Over the last few decades, costs have risen dramatically causing current students to drown in student debt, alter life decisions, or forgo college altogether.
In this episode, we introduce the problem of the skyrocketing cost of attending college. We cover:
- How previous generations of Americans had access to an affordable college education which enabled social mobility.
- The economic and societal impact of the meteoric rise of college tuition which causes students and families to borrow more, alter life decisions, or forgo college altogether.
- How the present debate centers on how to get more money to give to colleges without looking at how the money is spent.
Special thanks to Joyce Lieberman for technical advice.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonstudiomusic via Pixabay.
02/07/24 • 23 min
Government grants, easy access to subsidized loans, and tax breaks have made more money available to students, but somehow, students are even more overwhelmed with the burden of paying for college.
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay
02/21/24 • 23 min
All intercollegiate athletic programs lose money, except for a few at universities with successful football programs Students are charged up to several thousand dollars per year to make up the deficit. Compliance with Title IX also adds to the cost.
Websites mentioned in this episode:
Office of Postsecondary Education website under Equity In Athletics:
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search
Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database website:
https://knightnewhousedata.org/
Theme music credit: Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay
03/06/24 • 33 min
Institutional support of sponsored research has grown at twice the rate of inflation for over 60 years and is an overlooked cause of high tuition. The annual expense of unsponsored research is many thousands of dollars per student and may be an even larger contributor to rising costs.
This National Science Foundation website https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site can be used to look up information regarding funding sources for university research. On the left side click on "Search by institution name.” Once the institution comes up, click on it and then scroll down to Data Tables. Under R&D expenditures select “By source of funds and R&D field.”
Theme music credit Sunshine by lemonmusicstudio via Pixabay
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FAQ
How many episodes does Charging U have?
Charging U currently has 15 episodes available.
What topics does Charging U cover?
The podcast is about Education For Kids, Higher Education, Kids & Family, University, College, Podcasts and Education.
What is the most popular episode on Charging U?
The episode title '3. Shifting Public Support of Colleges and Universities' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Charging U?
The average episode length on Charging U is 22 minutes.
How often are episodes of Charging U released?
Episodes of Charging U are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Charging U?
The first episode of Charging U was released on Jan 31, 2024.
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