考研阅读精选：高校收费 应受管制

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『忘掉贷款偿还上限和学费计算器，该是政府管管高校收费的时候了。』
Why College Tuition Should Be Regulated
高校收费 应受管制

Oct. 27, 2011 | From Time

  Tuition at Stanford University in 1980-81 was $6,285.Thirty years  later, Stanford’s tuition had risen to $38,700.Tuition in 2011-12 is  $40,050.If the cost of milk had grown at the same rate, a gallon of  milk would now cost approximately $15.
I haven’t yet  purchased $15 gallons of milk, but as a college advisor I have counseled  many students who are charged $50,000 per year for tuition, fees and  campus housing. According to just released figures from the Commonfund  Institute, the inflation rate for colleges and universities was 2.3% for  fiscal year 2011, more than double the rate for 2010 and reversing a  decelerating trend that began in 2008. Stanford, which estimates that  75% of its undergraduates receive financial aid, is not out of the  norm.Drexel University, Carleton College and the Stevens Institute of  Technology were among the 72 other schools that were more expensive than  Stanford last year.
Since loans now comprise 70% of  financial aid packages, the growing tuition burden falls squarely on  student-borrowers who may have saved for college but who still can’t  meet the high cost of attendance. Two-thirds of American undergraduates  are in debt.This year, student loan debt will grow to more than a  trillion dollars, outpacing credit card debt for the first time. As  hundreds of thousands of high school seniors prepare their college  applications, and their parents compile documents required for financial  aid, Congress needs to seriously consider legislation that will rein in  future tuition increases.
There are many reasons for the  dramatic rise in tuition, including demand for better student  residences, cutting-edge laboratories, IT improvements, cuts in state  subsidies and administrative growth. Regardless of which factors are  most significant, the fact remains that there has simply not been enough  external pressure to force universities to contain costs.Ironically,  the accessibility of student loans, while admirable at first glance, has  contributed to tuition growth. And while President Obama’s recent  proposal to cap student loan repayments depending on income is a step in  the right direction, it doesn’t address the bigger problem of runaway  tuition in the first place.
This is where government needs to  firmly step in.The federal government contributes billions of dollars  to research and development on campus and allows universities to  function as tax-exempt institutions.Self-policing of college costs has  not worked; government needs to tie its support of higher education to  college costs.
If universities raise tuition more than the  Consumer Price Index, they should be required by Congress to take money  from their endowments to fully fund grants for the corresponding  increase in need for students on financial aid.The 20 wealthiest  universities alone are sitting on endowment funds worth $200  billion.Three-hundred and sixty-seven colleges and universities control  tax-exempt endowments worth over $100 million.
To enforce  the new guidelines, Congress and the Department of Education should  create a commission that includes representatives of universities,  Fortune 500 employers, consumer advocates and economists.Perhaps this  could be a more expansive version of the 2005-06 Spellings Commission,  which charted the future of higher education and suggested — but didn’t  mandate — ways to better prepare students for the workplace.If  universities don’t comply with the new guidelines, they will lose their  501(c)(3) status — a great incentive to control tuition costs rather  than pay taxes on donations and endowment earnings and lose the ability  to qualify for tax-exempt financing of infrastructure projects.
  Admittedly, we need to strike a careful balance.We want to respect  academic freedom and the ability of educational institutions to plan  their own futures, but we can’t allow universities to continue  offloading rising costs on to the backs of the vast majority of students  and families.Congress urgently needs to pass legislation that will  prevent university costs from bankrupting the next generation of today’s  youth. ( 628 words)
文章地址：
http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/27/why-college-tuition-should-be-regulated/?iid=op-main-lede