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?