Obama to propose college-ranking system that could increase affordability

[potone]

18. I fear the consequences of this.

Everyone knows that the cost of a college education has become so great that it is crushing young people with debt. But the problem is, to a large extent, the disinvestment by the government in public education at all levels. Universities and colleges have been forced to seek funding from corporations and other private sources, while relying ever more on non-tenure track adjunct professors who make shockingly low salaries, rarely have any benefits, and have no job security. At the same time, the number of administrators has grown exponentially and their salaries have skyrocketed, despite the fact that their contributions to the educational mission of universities are often negligible, and sometimes downright destructive. I know this from personal experience; at my university many instructors have been laid off in the last five years while ever more administrators are hired at six-figure salaries. They have no incentive to cut their own ranks since they hold the purse strings so they fire faculty members instead when budget cuts are made. This results in increasing class sizes, a demoralized and cowed faculty, and students being unable to have continuity in their education.
I am all in favor of for-profit educational institutions to be scrutinized, but they will not be the only ones who are likely to suffer from this.