Higher Education: Socialism in Action

If you want to know what happens when the government funds an industry, just look at higher education. For every year since 1982, college tuition fees have risen faster than the overall inflation rate. Richard Vedder, a distinguished professor at Ohio University and adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, explains the main reasons, which result from the socialist factors involved in education.

Vedder notes the lack of coincidence that the government involves itself in the financing of the two American sectors in which prices are rising fastest (college tuition and healthcare). He also discusses the total lack of incentive for colleges to control costs - schools have no desire to improve profitability. As an example, when was the last time you saw a college advertising itself on the basis of a cheaper education than its peers?

Vedder also discusses some of the other "non-market forces" that demonstrate the need for American industry to compete with its peers without subsidies and incentive its employees. Read the whole thing.