Economist Richard Vedder on Why College Costs So Much

In Going Broke By Degree: Why College Costs So Much, Ohio University economist Richard Vedder lays out in plain language why, well, college costs so much.

Vedder, also a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, sat down at FreedomFest in mid-July with Reason magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch to talk about college costs and more.

Approximately nine minutes. Shot by Dan Hayes and edited by Meredith Bragg.

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  News & Politics

[XCritonX]

Everything that capitalism provides is getting cheaper and better.

Everything that government is heavily involved in is getting more expensive and of poorer quality.

Does that mean that we should put the government in charge of our health!!!

We do need more collage grads, but not in the arts. We NEED more engineers, hard core scientists, and competent business managers and organizers.

Unfortunately higher education has often become a tool of indoctrination instead of education.

[highonhayek]

my university, UIUC, slowly turned into a damn hotel resort. All you can eat buffet-style meals, for each and ever meal, for dorm residents. Two newly-built recreational centers. A constantly expanding liberal arts college within the university that branched out into "native american" studies "global" studies and other non-intellectual mush that is worthless in the real world... unless you get a government grant to support you after graduation.

Believe me, it is a swell racket!

[godspawn007]

look at how many jobs that have left US shores, though. Look at how many companies have sent their core jobs overseas.  Manufacturing jobs and the like used to be the backbone of the US economy. Do the fact checking and you will find that many of these work horses of the US economy are no longer located in the US. This is a major problem. The cost of doing business in the US is way too high.

[khalifa alenezi]

in a college in Kuwait in the top 50 colleges in the world if you are Kuwaiti you don't pay anything the government pays you 900$ every month like this if you wish you were Kuwaiti im Kuwait :)

[mcradloff]

college was 1,000 a semester back in 1992, now it is 7500, if you figure a doubling time of less than 7 years, it will cost 15,000 in 2019, and 30,000 a semester in 2026, which will still be 4 years before my youngest great niece graduates.

[joshuamiller79]

Wow, from 2009 & looks really dated. Great video though in terms of what's being communicated. #ReasonRocks!

[pon00050]

I don't know who this guy is to talk about the "cognitive ability" of others. But I agree that incoming freshmen are ill prepared for college.

[snarfthefierce]

One more thought: Education is NOT a business, get over it. Education is to obtain knowledge. It is up to businesses to train intelligent employees, it is up to universities to give students knowledge of the world. Never confuse the two.

[snarfthefierce]

This man is a disgrace. As he has articulated a problem with the free market, not the university system. Is it *our* fault as professors that employers require college degrees that are unnecessary? Why is the private sector always above reproach? He is a joke. To XCritonX - you are a moron too... Arts are just as valuable as the hard core scientists, without a bigger understanding of philosophy or logic, hard core science can end up useless or worse - damaging

[GunsOfThePhoenix]

To make college cheaper:

1. Make Colleges compete

2. Drop government funding except for accreditation.

3. Don't blow money on new sports stadiums.

4. Cut useless classes such as gender studies, leisure studies, human development, etc. Expand useful courses such as Math, Science, Engineering, Medical, Business and Law, jobs which we know will pay back.

5. Colleges have to offer more for students or else they will simply run out of business.

[highonhayek]

I can see that you are confused. I will give you the tools to help yourself.

Above all, you need to untie two notions.

1) that because something is "good" (e.g., meals for college students, exercise equipment and an education that will likely lead to a lucrative career)

2) it is perfectly proper for the government to extract capital from the private market in order to fund it.

This is false.

Only once you snap that slender thread between the two ideas will you be free.