See Thru Edu is a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation
Thomas K. Lindsay, Ph.D., Editor in Chief and Director, Center for Higher Education, Texas Public Policy Foundation
In a scene in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, one of the bureaucratic cronies declares that all colleges and universities must serve “the public good” in order to gain control over higher education. Wait, that didn’t actually happen. It’s true that Rand’s kleptocrats frequently justified their trampling on individual rights by declaring their policies were “for […]
A couple of months ago I warned about the dangers of having government gather and publish growing reams of information in the name of making education better. Sure, it sounds great – help people get as informed as possible! – but the dangers are legion. You can read about several such pitfalls in that old […]
(Editor’s Note: This is the second piece published on grade inflation by a UT student requesting, for obvious reasons, anonymity. SeeThruEdu.com has confirmed that he is in fact a current UT student.) MyEdu is a website that advises students which college courses to take. It is not unique in this respect. Many popular websites offer […]
Of the many headlines that show up on my RSS feed every day, several have to do with student-loan debt incurred in pursuit of the almighty bachelor’s degree. And lately, many others have to do with the election of the new pope. This confluence of articles calls to mind a provocative (and entertaining) lecture from […]
Editor’s Note: Today we are running the tenth segment of the 15-part series on college-student-loan debt. (Thank you to onlinecolleges.net for putting this together.) Collection agencies have little incentive to change because many receive huge commissions. Government contracts and Education Department data showed that in 2011, collection agencies working for the government earned about $1 […]
Speaking of sick jokes, we found this, courtesy of The Daily Caller: “America’s acute comedian shortage has been a familiar embarrassment for years. Hilarity experts have fretted that this great nation isn’t producing enough stand-up comics to sustain our historical humor edge over naturally funny rivals such as Poland and Great Britain. Nightclub owners, people […]
Editor’s Note: Today we are running the eleventh segment of the 15-part series on college-student-loan debt. (Thank you to onlinecolleges.net for putting this together.) Student loan collection contracts are gold mines for collection agencies. Debt collection agencies have pounced on the opportunity to work with the government. Some have doubled in size and are thriving, […]
Editor’s Note: Today we are running the twelfth segment of the 15-part series on college-student-loan debt. (Thank you to onlinecolleges.net for putting this together.) The average defaulted loan is worth about $17,000. That’s not a huge amount, but it can be hefty for those who don’t have jobs and nearly insurmountable for those with health […]
During the fat years for higher education (roughly, 1965 through 2008), when more and more money was pouring in, most colleges and universities added lots of administrative offices and programs. Over time, most of them grew, following the logic of bureaucracies in non-profit settings: look busy, hype your accomplishments (real or imaginary), then ask for […]
Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was struck by an article in the Wall Street Journal noting the outrage by the higher education establishment that met the comments by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory when he expressed in a radio interview his concern that many recent college graduates cannot find jobs and suggested that […]
