Why They Seem to Rise Together: Federal Aid and College Tuition

minding the campus:

It's called "the Bennett Hypothesis," and it explains--or tries to explain--why the cost of college lies so tantalizingly out of reach for so many. In 1987, then Secretary of Education William J. Bennett launched a quarter century of debate by saying, in effect, "Federal aid doesn't help; colleges and universities just cream off the extra money by raising tuition." Now Andrew Gillen, research director of CCAP--the Center for College Affordability and Productivity--has tweaked the data and produced a sophisticated "2.0" version of the hypothesis. It's filled with heavy math, game theory and terms like "inelastic fairly vertical curves." You probably won't read it. We know. But it's important. So here are some smart people who have read it, and have something to say: Peter Wood, Hans Bader, Richard Vedder, George Leef and Herbert London.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 23, 2012 2:32 AM
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