Thread by @usacsmret

Richard Vedder's new book offers smart solutions to our higher ed problems. dailysign.al/2W6oRHx via @WE_Williams @DailySignal

Research done by the New York Federal Reserve Banks and the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that each dollar of federal aid to college leads to a tuition increase of 60 cents.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in an October 2018 report, finds that many students are underemployed, filling jobs that can be done with a high school education. More than one-third of currently working college graduates are in jobs that do not require a degree,

In addition to this kind of resource misallocation, 40% or more college students fail to graduate in six years. It is not unreasonable to ask whether college attendance was a wise use of these students’ time and the resources of their parents and taxpayers.

Vedder has several important ideas for higher education reform. First, we should put an end to the university monopoly on certifying educational and vocational competency. Non-college organizations could package academic courses and award degrees based upon external examinations.

Regarding financial aid, colleges should be forced to share in covering loan defaults—namely, they need to have some skin in the game. More importantly, Vedder says that we should end or revise the federal student aid program.

College administrative staff often exceeds the teaching staff. Vedder says, “I doubt there is a major campus in America where you couldn’t eliminate very conservatively 10% of the administrative payroll (in dollar terms) without materially impacting academic performance.”

Reevaluate academic tenure. Tenure is an employment benefit that has costs, and faculty members should be forced to make trade-offs between it and other forms of university compensation.

Colleges of education, with their overall poor academic quality, are an embarrassment on most campuses and should be eliminated.

End speech codes on college campuses by using the University of Chicago principles on free speech.

Require a core curriculum that incorporates civic and cultural literacy.

The most important measure of academic reforms is to make university governing boards independent and meaningful. In my opinion, most academic governing boards are little more than yes men for the president and provost.