Collage Cost Directly Connected to Gov. Interference

Sigh - what will it take for the voters to understand that we have to stop the expansion of government in all of our lives. Big government is like a virus that infects us all just by our very existence. You can't run or hide from it's infection, and it's destructive nature is so complete to our way of life we have enjoyed for the past 235 years, we will all parish if a cure is not found.

A good start will be November 2014 when we have the opportunity on a cure, that is, vote out all those that gave us the infection in the first place. You know who they are and who voted for them twice! And for all those that didn't vote at all the last time, do the right thing this time and vote for your own survival. The alternative is voting for self destruction. 

College Costs Too Much Because There's No Competition
Source: "College Costs Too Much Because There's No Competition," Washington Examiner, August 15, 2013.
August 21, 2013

President Obama signed legislation August 9 to restore lower interest rates for college student loans. But don't expect college tuition to go down or student debt to fall anytime soon. Instead, both tuition and student debt will maintain their steady spiral upward as long as the federal government continues to perpetuate the higher education accreditation cartel, says the Washington Examiner.

In a free market, if demand for something increases, prices will rise, signaling to entrepreneurs that profits can be made by entering that market. After more firms have entered, supply increases, prices fall, and only the best products and service providers are left serving customers.

• However, if demand rises in a market where government restricts entry, prices will only go up and up.
• Government may then be forced subsidize that market, if voters feel the product or service is unaffordable. But then firms keep raising prices as demand and government subsidies soar upward.
• The product or service in question cannot become more affordable until government restrictions on market entry and subsidies for consumers are removed.

This latter scenario is exactly what is happening in higher education today. Americans know that a college education is essential for obtaining a high-paying career, so demand keeps increasing. But the nation's six regional higher education accreditation agencies have restricted entry to the market, limiting the supply of degree granters and thus forcing tuition costs higher.

• When voters predictably demanded help to pay for these rising costs, the federal government responded with a massive program of subsidized student loans.
• Unfortunately, not only do these enable existing higher education institutions to keep raising tuition, they have also left a generation of Americans deeply in debt.

Entrepreneurs are trying to enter the higher education market, but regional accreditors stand in the way. While regional accreditors began as voluntary private associations over 100 years ago, as the federal government has gotten more involved in higher education funding, the accreditors have become government-empowered cartel enforcers.

If Congress really wanted to lower tuition costs, they could jumpstart innovation in the higher education sector by cutting the accreditation agencies out of the federal aid process altogether.