Sometimes The Wall Street Journal Slips Badly
I was disturbed to read such a mediocre lobbyist piece on the Opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled “Public Colleges Boost Economic Growth/States are treating higher education like an expendable luxury. That's a formula for decline.” (subscribers only) written by two heads of universities/colleges, i.e. Mr. Robert M. Gates (former U.S. Secretary of Defense) and David L. Boren published on 8/27/2013.
A Seriously Flawed Argument
The central argument by these two gentlemen is as follows (emphasis added):
“But the primary reason for increased cost is plummeting state financial support.”
“The University of Oklahoma receives only 17% of its budge from the state, compared to the 38% it received in 1980.”
“The College of William and Mary [where Mr. Gates is chancellor] receives 12-13% of its operating budget from the state, compared to 42.8% in 1980.”
Very nice by these two gentlemen to present their argument only in relative numbers, which can be deceiving and which they probably are. We know that college tuition increased about double digits or so for at least the past decade. Thus, college revenues probably also increased much faster than state revenue.
I would also suspect that the state support for colleges was not significantly reduced over time. Presumably, the state expenditures for colleges are still about the same share or higher of total expenditures. Perhaps, even the per student financial support (inflation adjusted) from the state has not changed significantly over time.
The two authors also hark back to the Morill Act of 1862 and the G.I. Bill of 1944 to justify their plea for more government money. Both acts were highly exceptional and should not be used as an excuse for any college to ask for more government money. Unfortunately, these two acts may have set a precedent.
To The Editor Of The Wall Street Journal Opinion Page
It appears that Mr. Paul Gigot is still the editor. Please make sure that such poorly written papers are not selected anymore for publication.
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