7. Do Professors' Salaries and Baumol (Service) Cost Disease Explain Why College Costs So Much?

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.

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6. How Much Do Intercollegiate Athletics Cost Students?

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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

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8. How Much Are College Students Paying For Research?

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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

Charging U - 7. Do Professors' Salaries and Baumol (Service) Cost Disease Explain Why College Costs So Much?

Transcript

Episode 6

Do Professor Salaries and Baumol (Service) Cost Disease Explain Why College Costs So Much?

What is Baumol’s Cost Disease and how does it affect what we pay for college? How much do professors’ salaries increase the price we pay for college? We will answer these questions on today’s episode. I am Larry Bernstein and welcome to Charging U.

“We need to go 2-1,’ the chair politely explained, ‘because otherwise we can’t hire anyone.’ Then Dean, now Provo