Higher education funding and tuition and fee inflation are complicated matters that very few people understand well. Easy Money clarifies the central issues and provides plentiful data to support its key points. It is a must-read for anyone who believes that maintaining access to and the affordability of public colleges are vitally important to society's future.
James V. Koch is Board of Visitors Professor of Economics at Old Dominion University and served fifteen years as a college president (Old Dominion and the University of Montana). He has been a consultant for more than 100 colleges and businesses and has written widely about economics and higher education.
Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Spiraling Costs of Higher Education 2. The Student Fallback Options: Loans and Debt 3. A Rising Flood of Student Indebtedness 4. Cross-Subsidies and Affordability in Public Higher Education 5. A Closer Look at Redistributive Student Pricing 6. College Endowments and Tuition: Should There Be a Tighter Connection? 7. Declining State Support for Education and What It Means for America 8. William Bennett's Gauntlet: Is the Federal Government Part of the Problem? 9. Baumol, Bowen, and the Overworked String Quartet Simile 10. Bowen's Rule: Faculty Activity, Administrative Bloat, Amenities, and Mission and Curriculum Creep 11. Parsing the Evidence and Evaluating Solutions to the College Cost Crisis Notes Index
A detailed look at the complex facets contributing to the college cost crisis, The Impoverishment of the American College Student doesn't let anyone off the hook. Koch focuses on how to restore the promise of public higher education, particularly for low- and middle-income students."- James Toscano, president, Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust; "Soaring college costs and public concerns about educational quality are front-page news, but it is hard to find clear explanations of decision-making in university administrative suites and boardrooms. James Koch's timely and important new book separates economic fact from wishful thinking."- Richard A. DeMillo, executive director, Center for 21st Century Universities, Georgia Institute of Technology; "Tuition and fee price inflation is a serious problem in higher education. Jim Koch lasers in on the causes underlying this problem and provides us with a practical plan to remedy it. These solutions reflect in part Koch's fifteen years of distinguished experience as a university president and the insights he has developed as a serious scholar."- Richard J. Cebula, professor of finance, Jacksonville University; "A welcome new tool to help make informed policy decisions that address the real problem of college cost. . . Koch's new book and the work he's doing with Partners are valuable additions to the higher education policy discussion. More former college presidents should follow Koch's example."- Jenna A. Robinson, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
