This is disingenuous at best. The most important stakeholders at most most universities are the administration. Even if the schools are technically "non-for-profit", their behavior mirrors how a for-profit would behave - increasing revenues and brand value (which as you note does cause schools to charge less to get better students). If a school's mission was truly "educational and social" rather than value maximization, it would be focused on providing a quality education to the largest number of students at the lowest price point.I retired from decades in higher education, and you are exactly correct. The vast majority of US universities are not-for-profit, and have an educational and social mission. Their stakeholders are not stockholders.Maybe this was meant to be rhetorical, but I can try to answer.If I was any of those schools listed, I would keep raising the price until I had one empty spot in the class I couldn’t fill. Why wouldn’t they? Honestly, if UMICH, UNC charged $200kl they’d still be turning people away.
The real question to me is, why don’t they charge more?
The purpose of a university isn't supposed to be making money. They don't have shareholders who are expecting dividneds. Money can be a means to an end - attracting the best student and teacher talent, building nicer buildings, doing groundbreaking research, having a great reputation - but that's not the ultimate goal. If a school charged $200k/year they would only get students from ultra-wealthy families, who may or may not be the best academically, and it could put the school into a downward spiral. I'm sure someone here with experience in higher ed (I have none, except as a student) can elaborate and fill in the details but the short answer is that the goal of a school isn't to earn as much money as possible.
Based on a quick internet search, total comp for the top 10 private college presidents ranges between $2.4M and $8.4M and the total comp for each of the top 15 public university presidents exceeds $1M. This is multiples of what the US President earns! These reported amounts exclude the substantial uncalculated benefit of working on a campus of luxury buildings, access to luxury gyms and the kickbacks (mostly legal like vendor dinners, exploratory trips, awards) that are part and parcel of the massive capital expenditures related to upgrading and building out campuses.
Statistics: Posted by hand — Fri Jun 21, 2024 6:47 am — Replies 212 — Views 12309