College Education: Rising Costs, but No Measures of Performance

Gary North

Feb. 1, 2012

This article in the Los Angeles Times is written by a university professor. He says that recent studies of student performance indicates that almost half of the students in the first two years of college do not increase their cognitive or writing skills.

He does not mention what he and his peers know: in all 4-year colleges, the schools make the most money off the first two years of a student's education. The fees are the same, the costs of educating lower-division students are lower, and the schools are dependent on this income.

The lower-division students fund the upper division student, who in turn fund the graduate school students. This has always been true.

A third of students did not improve in the entire four years.

How many hours a week do students spent studying? About 12. A third spent five hours a week.

Let's party!

My advice: spend under $15,000, total, and do it all at home -- no expensive dorms. //www.garynorth.com/public/729.cfm But 15 million students a year do it the dumb way. And their parents pay for it.