Re: #86
That’s another false assumption I’ve seen on this thread. At the schools that pay their coaches the most money, athletics are actually a net revenue generator, giving back to the school more than they take.
Oh, and many European countries also have easy-to-get educational loans (but unis there are also publics that don’t set tuition at market rates).
However, the growth in support staff is a big reason for the rise in tuition (BTW, net average costs haven’t gone up nearly as fast as the headline figures).
However, while many decry administrative bloat, how many Americans would prefer a college with no or minimal career counseling, interview prepping, study-abroad programs*, counseling centers, writing centers, various centers for entrepreneurship, innovation, etc.?
- As an example, Oxbridge doesn't have any programs for their undergrads to study abroad (at least in the US) for a full term (I believe the Cambridge-MIT exchange has ended), LSE only has one exchange program (with Cal), and the other top UK unis have several exchange programs, but outside of Erasmus (I don't know how that works), there are a limited number of slots. Compare to the US where across the whole spectrum of selectivity, pretty much any student at almost any college who wants to could study-abroad.