WSJ.com - When Big Government Goes to College

 

WSJ.com - Opinion: When Big Government Goes to College

 

The more the feds try to lower the cost, the worse the problem becomes.

"Right now the incentives for our colleges and universities are all wrong.  It's wrong for colleges, who have no incentive to keep down costs. It's wrong for students, whose needs are ill-served by loans and grants that go directly to the school. And it's wrong for taxpayers, whose dollars are making education more expensive without expanding opportunity for those who most need it."

Translation: If you are a mom or dad with college-age kids and you think the system is rigged against you, you're right.

A good start would be a new structure for college financing that promoted genuine opportunity without feeding the inflation it is supposed to solve. President Obama, alas, seems wed to the same government-heavy approach he had for health care. Indeed, the "reform" he signed last spring—restructuring federal grants and loans—will likely fuel rising costs as schools absorb that money, spend it on their own priorities, and continue to raise tuition at rates that outstrip the Consumer Price Index.

That's unfortunate because with a little imagination and the right incentives, the possibilities are endless.