[quote=Fletch]So anyone want to take a stab at the exact mechanism that pops the education bubble? How does tuition go from being high… to not.
[/quote]

I have a different perspective since I went to Cornell, and my mom once worked for Princeton’s financial aid office. A lot a top-tier schools have guaranteed grant aid beyond the calculated family contribution & maximum student loans. So for every dollar tuition goes up, 60% of the students get an extra $1 of grant aid, and 40% of the students pay $1. Hence, if the U wants an extra $1 per student, they have to raise tuition by $2.50. After a few years, only 33% can pay, so you have to raise tuition $3.33 to net $1. Long term, tuition accelerates up because fewer are paying the bill each year.

Now, a lot of mid-level (GWU?) and public schools don’t guarantee grants above ability to pay, but they’ve seen reduced state funding over the last decade or two, and have been ramping up tuition accordingly. And they’re selling the same product as the elite schools, so they can justify their own tuition increases by comparion.

How do you fix it? Unless eduction funding goes up (unlikely), the only option seems to be a reduction in services. Internet-based classes certainly provide a lower-cost option, or you could see larger classes & fewer profs. The UC protests this fall were funny that way: No layoffs! No tuition increases! Guys, pick one.

The Spanish model is the extreme case of low-cost eduction: Free tuition, but all they provide is huge lecture classes with no required attendance, homework, or papers (though you usually get a recommended books and problems list) and one test that determines whether you pass or fail for the year. In engineering, fail rates run well over 50% and retaking classes 2-3 times is normal. However, you have 7 years to pass all of your required classes; not sure if you can pay tuition after that.