Costs

American colleges and universities spend billions of dollars a year from state, federal, and private sources. The following articles identify ways to cut costs and ensure that public investment in higher education provides value to students, taxpayers, and society.


The Debt-Free Four-Year Degree

A recent Gallup survey found that confidence in America’s colleges and universities has plummeted in the past decade, with only 36 percent of today’s adults expressing “a great deal” or “quite…


Faculty Salaries Are Complicated

The Coalition for Carolina recently noted that UNC-Chapel Hill has dropped out of the top-10 “average adjusted faculty salary” rankings for the 2023-24 academic year, as measured against a select…



Graduate Enrollment Is Softening? Good.

The number of students enrolling in graduate school is steadily declining, according to a recent report by the Council of Graduate Schools. Although grad-school enrollment increased by six percent between…



The Textbook-Procurement Wars Rage On

Most of the general public, particularly those who know students in college or university, are aware of the sharp increases in the cost of higher education over the last several…





The Dollars and Cents of DEI

In recent years, the landscape of higher education has been increasingly dominated by the rhetoric and initiatives of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Universities have dedicated numerous resources to pushing…