A Tuition Rate Only an Economist Could Love

A major story in last Tuesday’s Inside Higher Education was that Middlebury College “will plan its budgets each year by capping its ‘comprehensive fee’ – the equivalent of tuition, room and board at other private colleges—at an upward limit of 1 percentage point above the Consumer Price Index.”  Certainly this move makes good sense in terms of positive publicity for Middlebury and it also provides a valuable fiscal restraint framework to operate under.  But would I, as an economist, advocate this framework and does it make sense for higher education in general?

Assessing Assessment

I have just made my airline reservations to Fort Lauderdale for the middle of February. This is not a vacation; rather I am serving on an ABA reaccreditation team for Nova Southeastern Law School.  Over the years, I have served as a Middle States periodic reviewer (most recently as the first reviewer for Johns Hopkins and the second reviewer for American); ABA reviewer (most recently for Memphis Law School) and during my earlier life as a business school dean, I served not only on visiting teams but as a member of the Initial Accreditation Committee of AACSB.  I have also been on the receiving end of accreditation visits numerous times—just recently we had 14 reaccreditation visits at Hofstra in the last two years.

Furlough Fridays

I am fortunate to have a broad vantage point on education that spans kindergarten through graduate school.  In addition to my position at Hofstra I have served on two school boards, the first at a Quaker School my kids were attending at the time and currently I serve on my local school board where my kids now attend. I also serve on the board for ProjectGrad Long Island, which provides extra support for economically disadvantaged school districts.  And I have worked closely with Hofstra’s NOAH program, which was the template for New York State’s HEOP program, for over 25 years.

Faculty Blogs

At our mid-year commencement a few weeks ago, a faculty member I have known for many years asked me if I had been reading his Huffington Post blog on a regular basis. I answered yes and he asked me what I thought.

Before I share my response, let me tell you more about the faculty member. I actually have known this person since he was an undergraduate at The City College and I was teaching there as an adjunct while completing my Ph.D. One semester, there he was, registered for my basic economics course. And all during the course he complained that my economics was just not liberal enough for his liking.

Ragtime

On September 15th, I purchased tickets for my wife and me to go see the new Broadway production of Ragtime.  I had seen and very much liked the previous Broadway production and also a Hofstra production.  I think Ragtime’s music is excellent and the story very powerful.  In addition, the show serves as a helpful educational and historical vehicle.  The show opened in the middle of November and my tickets were for Saturday night, January 9th.  Just after New Year, I received an email that the last performance for the current production would be the 5th.  A day later, I received a follow-up email that the last performance had been extended to the 10th.  My timing turned out well and on the 9th we went into the city for dinner and the show.

Theories on Commencement

A day after our December commencement exercises and two days after a 24” snowstorm, I am on an airplane flying to Hawaii.  At this and every other commencement, I always watch the parade of graduates – from the bachelor’s level to the doctorate- march across the stage.  And as they march, I wonder whether we have done all that we can do to provide an education that will serve their needs and society’s needs.

The Undecided

The recent death of Paul Samuelson at age 94 has prompted me to reflect on my own educational journey.  Paul Samuelson as we know, was a Nobel Prize winning economist and was also the author of a long term best selling textbook that influenced me greatly at a critical time.  As a high school student and even in my first and second year in college, I was uncertain as to what field to pursue.  And there were even moments when I was unsure as to why I was pursuing higher education.  Then economics came into the picture.  I can’t even tell you why I registered for this course—I wasn’t even sure at the time exactly what economics was and I knew of no one in my circle of family, friends and acquaintances who were in the field.  As far as I was concerned, this was just another course, taken most likely to meet a requirement.