DEBUNKING THREE MYTHS ABOUT HIGHER EDUCATION

(From RealClearPolicy):

By Thomas K. Lindsay

Nationwide, higher education suffers from three intersecting crises: 1) declining affordability; 2) poor student learning; and 3) lax standards. But you wouldn’t know this from listening to the three myths masquerading as narrative in typical reporting of the issues.

The first myth addresses why tuition has jumped 400-plus percent nationwide in the last quarter-century, outstripping inflation and even health-care cost increases and forcing students to amass a historic $1.2 trillion in debt. Public universities, when confronted with these facts, blame state cuts, which, they argue, leave them no option but to raise prices.