{"id":5071,"date":"2026-08-23T13:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T13:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071"},"modified":"2026-08-23T13:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T13:37:14","slug":"the-biggest-problem-in-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071","title":{"rendered":"The biggest problem in higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Universities have many problems, and are constantly in the news. They are a major part of public policy.\u00a0\u00a0Higher education is among the largest \u201cindustries\u201d in the U.S., and linked to sectors like pharmaceuticals, defense, and technology. Universities also include major labor unions, and are used by political parties to organize voters. But at the end of the day, their most prominent feature is a lack of internal cost control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more As Pakistan\u2019s influence in Afghanistan wanes, the U.S. must recalibrate<\/a><\/p>\n

At a practical level, university cost issues are close to home because parents are \u201ccustomers\u201d as much as their student offspring are.\u00a0\u00a0Families go to great lengths to finance their sons and daughters so they can get a leg up.\u00a0\u00a0Many families take out significant loans, and even second mortgages in order to pay for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

College costs a lot.\u00a0\u00a0The University of Chicago has the highest tuition in the country. The all-in bill is $80K a year, but that doesn\u2019t include the full costs of attendance such as travel, personal supplies, and other expenditures.\u00a0\u00a0The cost after four years can reach nearly half a million dollars for an undergraduate degree.\u00a0\u00a0The state schools are less, but still cost upwards of a quarter of a million dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, it costs even more for graduate professional schools like business, law and medicine. At many universities that can double the total cost of a university education.<\/p>\n

While families are closest to the college finance problem, with total student debt nearing $2 trillion, everyone else is paying as well.\u00a0\u00a0That means taxpayers. They pay in several ways including through state and federal income taxes, business costs, and more. Financing education\u00a0(and health care) are the single greatest costs\u00a0in state budgets across the nation.\u00a0 Universities are also tax-exempt which means that someone else is subsidizing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As operating businesses, universities would never survive in a competitive market with shareholders who demand financial transparency.<\/p>\n

Their cost structure is like government: overhead is so high that what goes in must be literally 100 times higher than what comes out; that is, like government, university overhead waste eats up so much capital that it can take a hundred dollars to make one dollar of measurable benefit.\u00a0\u00a0They both are net destroyers of wealth at an institutional level <\/em>(I\u2019m not suggesting that an education does not have value; I refer to how much institutional resources are used by universities in order to create it). That is why universities never have enough money, and are always looking for donors, political favors, grants and anything else they can get their hands on, in order to feed the university cost machine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That includes getting as many paying students as they can, every year, and charging them as much as the market will bear.\u00a0\u00a0And like the government, universities rely on convincing the public that they are indispensable. Universities claim their research is \u201ccutting edge,\u201d and \u201cworld-class,\u201d and represents vital public welfare, and public safety. They don\u2019t bother to think through how all their costs could pass a basic cost-benefit test.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed, universities can create more harm than good.\u00a0\u00a0Universities were at the center of COVOD\u00a0corruption, and they hope everyone has a short memory.\u00a0\u00a0They took in billions in grants, medical insurance premiums, and COVID\u00a0relief payments through Biden\u2019s nearly $2 trillion relief bill.\u00a0\u00a0COVID\u00a0was a major contributor to masking university cost distortions, while many university administrations profiteered.\u00a0\u00a0Some argue for universities to be ranked under a \u201ccorruption index.\u201d Other researchers assert that university bureaucracy resembles organized crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One thing universities don\u2019t resemble is a lean, efficient business enterprise, and students and families are paying the price for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Change The Counseling; Change The Culture<\/a><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, universities are spinning the tuition cost problem in social class terms<\/em>. They disingenuously claim that they are forced<\/em> to make financial aid awards to \u201crich kids\u201d in order to get them in the door, so they can then pay higher net tuition. By doing so, universities claim they are being forced to neglect \u201cpoor\u201d students who can\u2019t pay the same higher net price \u2014 so they have to give them a bigger financial aid award, or discount, and lose revenue.\u00a0\u00a0Rich students means more revenue; poor students means less.\u00a0\u00a0But who do they ultimately blame? Taxpayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In university mathematics and accounting, it is the taxpayer\u2019s fault<\/em> because states and the federal government aren\u2019t funding our colleges enough. The university system therefore has to favor wealthier students to make up the difference, and poor students suffer.\u00a0\u00a0This is a social class excuse for a cost control problem.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What is the university business solution?\u00a0\u00a0Raise taxes of course.\u00a0\u00a0Higher taxes is the \u201cequitable\u201d thing to do because without that, it means that college favors the wealthy, and wealth, and the rich, are naturally the cause of injustice in their view.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The one thing that universities and colleges will never admit, however, is that their own traditions are the source of that injustice<\/em>: their own internal costs are <\/em>spiraling out of control<\/em>, and everyone else \u2014 rich, poor, and middle class \u2014 is paying for it.\u00a0\u00a0It has created a fundamental trust problem.<\/p>\n

The reality is that <\/em>everything a university does can be done in half the time for <\/em>half the cost, but that means the taxpayer gravy train will be lightened. That includes the university president \u201cmillionaire\u2019s club.\u201d<\/p>\n

I started by saying that the biggest issue in higher education isn\u2019t racial quotas, political ideology or tuition prices: it\u2019s their bloated internal costs.\u00a0\u00a0But it’s the bloated cost structure itself that is behind the racial preferences, political opportunism and bloated tuition prices<\/em>. Protecting university cost structure \u2014 which means protecting their internal reward structure \u2014 means exploiting social and political disorder in order to advantage their institutional economics.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0If that means lowering standards to attract marginal students, accommodating the DNC\u2019s corrupt programs, or doing whatever they\u2019re told from other institutions like the CDC and NIH, they will eagerly do so, and without question.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Universities are prostitutes of the finest pedigree, but prostitutes still: in that line of work, you don\u2019t pay them for the favors, you pay them to go away.\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately, alma mater has a tendency to keep coming back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew G. Andersson is a former CEO, author and college parent.\u00a0\u00a0He has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, and the Chronicle of Higher Education concerning university policy.\u00a0\u00a0He is a contributor to the National Association of Scholars publication Minding the Campus, and the <\/em><\/strong>James G. Martin Center<\/em><\/strong> for Academic Renewal.\u00a0\u00a0He has testified before the US Senate, and is a graduate of the University of Chicago.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more The Cultural Divide, The Crisis Of Womanhood, And The Revitalization Of Motherhood<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Universities have many problems, and are constantly in the news. They are a major part of public policy.\u00a0\u00a0Higher education is among the largest \u201cindustries\u201d in the U.S., and linked to sectors like pharmaceuticals, defense, and technology. Universities also include major labor unions, and are used by political parties to organize voters. But at the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,100],"tags":[2018],"class_list":["post-5071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-education","tag-related-topics-education-economics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Universities have many problems, and are constantly in the news. They are a major part of public policy.\u00a0\u00a0Higher education is among the largest \u201cindustries\u201d in the U.S., and linked to sectors like pharmaceuticals, defense, and technology. Universities also include major labor unions, and are used by political parties to organize voters. But at the end […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\"},\"headline\":\"The biggest problem in higher education\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071\"},\"wordCount\":1148,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Related Topics: Education, Economics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071\",\"name\":\"The biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":801},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=5071#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The biggest problem in higher education\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Interstate Logistics Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub","og_description":"Universities have many problems, and are constantly in the news. They are a major part of public policy.\u00a0\u00a0Higher education is among the largest \u201cindustries\u201d in the U.S., and linked to sectors like pharmaceuticals, defense, and technology. Universities also include major labor unions, and are used by political parties to organize voters. But at the end […]","og_url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071","og_site_name":"Interstate Logistics Hub","article_published_time":"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4"},"headline":"The biggest problem in higher education","datePublished":"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071"},"wordCount":1148,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg","keywords":["Related Topics: Education, Economics"],"articleSection":["Economy","Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071","name":"The biggest problem in higher education - Interstate Logistics Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-23T13:37:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4e27a17d01e944d9f820940b73d8e52c.jpg","width":1200,"height":801},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5071#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The biggest problem in higher education"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/","name":"Interstate Logistics Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com"],"url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}