Four Sources of Tuition Inflation

Manhattan Institute: "Tuition inflation has been extensively examined. These studies neglect to deal with this question: Why has pressure from the market failed to mitigate these effects, as would normally happen in competitive markets for other products and services?" 1) Price v. Value: In the market for higher education, buyers’ willingness to pay will depend, to a large extent, on their perception of the long-run financial value of education, in the form of higher wages and more consistent employment.

2) Price Opacity: Published prices for tuition and fees are often far different from the prices that students pay after taking into account the discounts provided by the college and grant aid given by the federal and state departments of education ... The result of this pricing process is that aspiring students must make decisions about if and where to enroll based on a limited set of information about the options available to them."

3) Oligopolistic Competition: A geographically constrained marketplace means that many potential students will choose between a limited number of options within a reasonable commuting distance from home ... In practice, this can lead to what is known as oligopolistic competition, in which a market is dominated by a small number of firms—or, in this case, colleges. 4) Regulation: To gain eligibility for federal financial aid, colleges must participate in a process of accreditation ... The result is that innovative higher-education providers often have to exist without the benefit of access to federal financial aid ... the disadvantage of lacking access to federal aid dollars limits the extent to which they can prosper."

Colleges Innovate Novel Virus Solutions

The New York Times: "The fall of 2020 will go down as a period of profound experimentation at colleges and universities transformed into hothouse laboratories. They are trying out wastewater tests, dozens of health-check apps and versions of homegrown contact technologies that log student movement and exposure risk. And they are experimenting with different testing methods that might yield faster results and be easier to administer, such as using saliva instead of nasal swabs."

"Like small island nations with discrete populations, many universities are using methods that cities, states and nations often cannot. The colleges have some authority over relatively captive communities, which are made up of students largely at ease with new technology. Plus, the schools have profound motivation: Their very economic survival depends on people coming to campus safely ... Thousands of positive cases have already been reported on scores of newly reopened campuses."

"These trial-and-error experiments could seed technologies to help the rest of society cope with the pandemic ... An app, known as Covid Watch and developed on a platform built by Apple and Google, anonymously tracks students’ movements using Bluetooth technology; those who download the app will be notified if they have been in proximity to someone who has tested positive ... To grapple with the privacy implications, the university has made use of the app voluntary. The information is kept on personal devices — phones or watches or other Bluetooth-enabled technology — and the users are the ones who would permit a positive test to be shared, with their identities kept secret."

How Coronavirus Maps Across Campuses

"A New York Times survey of every public four-year college in the country, as well as every private institution that competes in Division I sports or is a member of an elite group of research universities, revealed at least 6,300 cases tied to about 270 colleges over the course of the pandemic. And the new academic year has not even begun at most schools ... Of nearly 1,000 institutions contacted by The Times, some had already posted case information online, some provided full or partial numbers and others refused to answer basic questions, citing privacy concerns. Hundreds of colleges did not respond at all. Still, the Times survey represents the most comprehensive look at the toll the virus has already taken on the country’s colleges and universities."

A complete list can be found here.

"Among the colleges that provided information, many offered no details about who contracted the virus, when they became ill or whether a case was connected to a larger outbreak. It is possible that some of the cases were identified months ago, in the early days of the outbreak in the United States before in-person learning was cut short, and that others involved students and employees who had not been on campus recently."

"What is clear is that despite months of planning for a safe return to class, and despite drastic changes to campus life, the virus is already spreading widely at universities. Some institutions, like the California State University system, have moved most fall classes online. Others, including those in the Patriot League and Ivy League, have decided to not hold fall sports. But many institutions still plan to welcome freshmen to campus in the coming days, to hold in-person classes and to host sporting events."