Comments on: Getting Schooled

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:40:30 +0000

One of the other bits of data lacking in the WSJ piece is that while they report on the rate of tuition increase a public universities over the past decade or two, they do not report on how much state support of public universities has been cut over that period. I suspect that, in many cases, the rate of tuition increase is proportional (in absolute value) to the decrease in state support.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:36:22 +0000

Understood, as a recent student I can attest to the flippant nature of faculty reviews too. Teaching to the test has bastardized this state’s education system already (TAKS is quite possibly the worst thing to happen to Texas’ public schools), I shudder at the thought of that being expanded to higher education.

If my tuition was increasing 10% yoy and my professor’s were getting across the board 10% raises, I would be happy with that. The free market dictates that the most talented professors will (all other things being equal) flock to the programs that compensate them best, but yes, this black hole since deregulation is intriguing.

By: The Professor

The Professor — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:58:36 +0000

Jack–I have no problems with giving students more information re faculty background. What would be a problem going forward is crack-brained incentive schemes. And the cost thing is clearly an issue. I can assure you that my salary, and that of most colleagues has increased far more slowly than tuition. It’s something of a puzzle as to where all the money goes.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:50:24 +0000

Speaking from a students perspective, the ability to research professor’s academic and professional history definitely aided my course decisions. Granted LinkedIn helped more than anything the state put out there (not to mention this blog).

Take the MBA market in Houston. UH is ~$30K, HBU is ~$40, Tulane is ~$70, Rice is ~$80, and UT is ~$90. It’s kind of shocking that a public program is the most expensive (and one is the least expensive). All of these program’s have excellent faculty, but by and large, is UT’s 3X better than UH’s? Not a chance. Even if you could measure the ‘quality’ of professors, there is still no justification for runaway education costs (regardless of whether or not MBAs are thought of as ‘profit centers’ for their respective schools).

By: Could be special pleading on higher education « Knowledge Problem

Could be special pleading on higher education « Knowledge Problem — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:25:12 +0000

[...] that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth from state universities. Acknowledging that his comments “could be taken as special pleading,” a blogger who is also a Texas state employee providing university students with advanced [...]

By: Troy Camplin

Troy Camplin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 06:23:50 +0000

A spontaneous order for education? Sounds great to me. Decentralized free markets work best in economics, so why not for education?

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:42:34 +0000

TYPO: Milgrom not Tirole

By: Surya

Surya — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:12:10 +0000

A similar controversy is raging in high school education…esp. wrt Michelle Rhee’s DC reforms. The teacher’s union is broadly in support of performance pay – but the crucial question for them is how exactly “performance” will be measured. Rhee’s solution was to simply use test score results. The union argues this will simply distort educational quality and make teachers grade monkeys……
On a related note, I believe a lot of inefficiency in higher education exists due to the presence of an extraordinary number of “administrative” jobs which are better paid but involve nothing more than random paper pushing.

By: Earning My Keep…. « Organizations and Markets

Earning My Keep…. « Organizations and Markets — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:03:31 +0000

[...] Go read Craig Pirrong’s post on the WSJ article at Streetwise Professor. That’s an [...]

By: Tim Newman

Tim Newman — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:55:27 +0000

As in most things, rather than trying to engineer from above (in legislatures or governors’ offices) to achieve superior results, it is better to encourage an environment in which competition not just in price, but in organizational form and internal management and governance, can flourish. The practices that survive will not be perfect, because perfection is not an option in economics, but it is likely that they will have attributes that are, as a whole, superior to those that do not.

Exactly. Stand well back and let the market rip. Let individual customers decide for themselves what sort of academic instruction they value the most; those that don’t offer a valuable service go bust.