The College Cost Disease

The College Cost Disease PDF Author: Robert E. Martin
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1849806179
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
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.

The College Cost Disease

The College Cost Disease PDF Author: Robert E. Martin
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1849806179
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
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.

The Cost Disease

The Cost Disease PDF Author: William J. Baumol
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300179286
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Traces the fast-rising prices of health care and education in the United States and other major industrial nations, examining the underlying causes which have to do with the nature of providing labor-intensive services.

Why Does College Cost So Much?

Why Does College Cost So Much? PDF Author: Robert B. Archibald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190214104
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
College tuition has risen more rapidly than the overall inflation rate for much of the past century. To explain rising college cost, the authors place the higher education industry firmly within the larger economic history of the United States.

The Cost Disease

The Cost Disease PDF Author: William J. Baumol
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030018848X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The exploding cost of health care in the United States is a source of widespread alarm. Similarly, the upward spiral of college tuition fees is cause for serious concern. In this concise and illuminating book, well-known economist William J. Baumol explores the causes of these seemingly intractable problems and offers a surprisingly simple explanation. Baumol identifies the "cost disease" as a major source of rapidly rising costs in service sectors of the economy. Once we understand that disease, he explains, effective responses become apparent. Baumol presents his analysis with characteristic clarity, tracing the fast-rising prices of health care and education in the U.S. and other major industrial nations, then examining the underlying causes of the phenomenon, which have to do with the nature of providing labor-intensive services. The news is good, Baumol reassures, because the nature of the disease is such that society will be able to afford the rising costs.

The Great Mistake

The Great Mistake PDF Author: Christopher Newfield
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421421631
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
A remarkable indictment of how misguided business policies have undermined the American higher education system. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRL Higher education in America, still thought to be the world leader, is in crisis. University students are falling behind their international peers in attainment, while suffering from unprecedented student debt. For over a decade, the realm of American higher education has been wracked with self-doubt and mutual recrimination, with no clear solutions on the horizon. How did this happen? In this stunning new book, Christopher Newfield offers readers an in-depth analysis of the “great mistake” that led to the cycle of decline and dissolution, a mistake that impacts every public college and university in America. What might occur, he asserts, is no less than locked-in economic inequality and the fall of the middle class. In The Great Mistake, Newfield asks how we can fix higher education, given the damage done by private-sector models. The current accepted wisdom—that to succeed, universities should be more like businesses—is dead wrong. Newfield combines firsthand experience with expert analysis to show that private funding and private-sector methods cannot replace public funding or improve efficiency, arguing that business-minded practices have increased costs and gravely damaged the university’s value to society. It is imperative that universities move beyond the destructive policies that have led them to destabilize their finances, raise tuition, overbuild facilities, create a national student debt crisis, and lower educational quality. Laying out an interconnected cycle of mistakes, from subsidizing the private sector to “the poor get poorer” funding policies, Newfield clearly demonstrates how decisions made in government, in the corporate world, and at colleges themselves contribute to the dismantling of once-great public higher education. A powerful, hopeful critique of the unnecessary death spiral of higher education, The Great Mistake is essential reading for those who wonder why students have been paying more to get less and for everyone who cares about the role the higher education system plays in improving the lives of average Americans.

Paying the Price

Paying the Price PDF Author: Sara Goldrick-Rab
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022640448X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
A “bracing and well-argued” study of America’s college debt crisis—“necessary reading for anyone concerned about the fate of American higher education” (Kirkus). College is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it. In Paying the Price, education scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab reveals the devastating effect of these shortfalls. Goldrick-Rab examines a study of 3,000 students who used the support of federal aid and Pell Grants to enroll in public colleges and universities in Wisconsin in 2008. Half the students in the study left college without a degree, while less than 20 percent finished within five years. The cause of their problems, time and again, was lack of money. Unable to afford tuition, books, and living expenses, they worked too many hours at outside jobs, dropped classes, took time off to save money, and even went without adequate food or housing. In many heartbreaking cases, they simply left school—not with a degree, but with crippling debt. Goldrick-Rab combines that data with devastating stories of six individual students, whose struggles make clear the human and financial costs of our convoluted financial aid policies. In the final section of the book, Goldrick-Rab offers a range of possible solutions, from technical improvements to the financial aid application process, to a bold, public sector–focused “first degree free” program. "Honestly one of the most exciting books I've read, because [Goldrick-Rab has] solutions. It's a manual that I'd recommend to anyone out there, if you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a student."—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine

Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine PDF Author: Marthe R. Gold
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199880425
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
A unique, in-depth discussion of the uses and conduct of cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) as decision-making aids in the health and medical fields, this volume is the product of over two years of comprehensive research and deliberation by a multi-disciplinary panel of economists, ethicists, psychometricians, and clinicians. Exploring cost-effectiveness in the context of societal decision-making for resource allocation purposes, this volume proposes that analysts include a "reference-case" analysis in all CEAs designed to inform resource allocation and puts forth the most explicit set of guidelines (together with their rationale) ever defined on the conduct of CEAs. Important theoretical and practical issues encountered in measuring costs and effectiveness, evaluating outcomes, discounting, and dealing with uncertainty are examined in separate chapters. Additional chapters on framing and reporting of CEAs elucidate the purpose of the analysis and the effective communication of its findings. Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine differs from the available literature in several key aspects. Most importantly, it represents a consensus on standard methods--a feature integral to a CEA, whose principal goal is to permit comparisons of the costs and health outcomes of alternative ways of improving health. The detailed level at which the discussion is offered is another major distinction of this book, since guidelines in journal literature and in CEA-related books tend to be rather general--to the extent that the analyst is left with little guidance on specific matters. The focused overview of the theoretical background underlying areas of controversy and of methodological alternatives, and, finally, the accessible writing style make this volume a top choice on the reading lists of analysts in medicine and public health who wish to improve practice and comparability of CEAs. The book will also appeal to decision-makers in government, managed care, and industry who wish to consider the uses and limitations of CEAs.

Productivity in Higher Education

Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022657461X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
How do the benefits of higher education compare with its costs, and how does this comparison vary across individuals and institutions? These questions are fundamental to quantifying the productivity of the education sector. The studies in Productivity in Higher Education use rich and novel administrative data, modern econometric methods, and careful institutional analysis to explore productivity issues. The authors examine the returns to undergraduate education, differences in costs by major, the productivity of for-profit schools, the productivity of various types of faculty and of outcomes, the effects of online education on the higher education market, and the ways in which the productivity of different institutions responds to market forces. The analyses recognize five key challenges to assessing productivity in higher education: the potential for multiple student outcomes in terms of skills, earnings, invention, and employment; the fact that colleges and universities are “multiproduct” firms that conduct varied activities across many domains; the fact that students select which school to attend based in part on their aptitude; the difficulty of attributing outcomes to individual institutions when students attend more than one; and the possibility that some of the benefits of higher education may arise from the system as a whole rather than from a single institution. The findings and the approaches illustrated can facilitate decision-making processes in higher education.

The Amateur Hour

The Amateur Hour PDF Author: Jonathan Zimmerman
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421439107
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
The first full-length history of college teaching in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present, this book sheds new light on the ongoing tension between the modern scholarly ideal—scientific, objective, and dispassionate—and the inevitably subjective nature of day-to-day instruction. American college teaching is in crisis, or so we are told. But we've heard that complaint for the past 150 years, as critics have denounced the poor quality of instruction in undergraduate classrooms. Students daydream in gigantic lecture halls while a professor drones on, or they meet with a teaching assistant for an hour of aimless discussion. The modern university does not reward teaching, so faculty members at every level neglect it in favor of research and publication. In the first book-length history of American college teaching, Jonathan Zimmerman confirms but also contradicts these perennial complaints. Drawing upon a wide range of previously unexamined sources, The Amateur Hour shows how generations of undergraduates indicted the weak instruction they received. But Zimmerman also chronicles institutional efforts to improve it, especially by making teaching more "personal." As higher education grew into a gigantic industry, he writes, American colleges and universities introduced small-group activities and other reforms designed to counter the anonymity of mass instruction. They also experimented with new technologies like television and computers, which promised to "personalize" teaching by tailoring it to the individual interests and abilities of each student. But, Zimmerman reveals, the emphasis on the personal inhibited the professionalization of college teaching, which remains, ultimately, an amateur enterprise. The more that Americans treated teaching as a highly personal endeavor, dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the instructor, the less they could develop shared standards for it. Nor have they rigorously documented college instruction, a highly public activity which has taken place mostly in private. Pushing open the classroom door, The Amateur Hour illuminates American college teaching and frames a fresh case for restoring intimate learning communities, especially for America's least privileged students. Anyone who wants to change college teaching will have to start here.

The Costs of Higher Education

The Costs of Higher Education PDF Author: Howard R. Bowen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780783701639
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description