Dartblog

For a while now Congress has been looking for a new way to inject itself in to private, higher education institutions (which are doing quite well, thank you).

U.S. News reports on a list of schools that are committed to meeting, in full, students’ demonstrated financial need. Dartmouth is, of course, one of these schools, with absolutely first-rate policies on financial aid. It has been my observation and experience, and not just at Dartmouth, that private institutions go beyond—well beyond—the financial aid that Washington provides.

In an altogether different approach there are schools like Berea College, a smaller liberal arts school that uniquely accepts students from a very particular, low-income applicant pool. Tuition is free at this school, facilities are as the New York Times describes them “no frills,” and all students work on-campus jobs.

In particular, the two proposals Congress seems to be looking at are forcing universities and colleges to spend a certain percentage of their endowments each year and/or taxing endowments above a certain dollar figure. I understand the impulse. But external regulation is the last thing that will “control costs.” From schools like Dartmouth to schools like Berea there are already thousands of colleges with hundreds of unique approaches to tuition, financial aid, curricula and just about everything else. These diverse applications of local knowledge and institutional missions may not be perfect, but they are infinitely better than one arbitrary mandate from a few overzealous Washingtonians.