There was this article from the Arizona Republic about students who want the Board of Regents to freeze tuition in the face of increases that the Universities are seeking. I have written about this several times and I am not sure I much more to say other than I still don't understand how smart people can be so stupid.
Our Republican friend, Espresso Pundit has a pretty good entry about this topic here. I think his analysis is pretty close to the mark. The simple fact is that if you want more people in Arizona with bachelors degree raising tuition is not the way to get there.
In general, I am a big advocate of Arizona and Phoenix. I don't buy into all of the negativity about us being last in everything. However, the one area the I think Arizona is really deficient is university/college education. ASU, NAU and UofA are all fine schools, but there is not nearly enough choice in the state to satisfy a vibrant growing economy.
When I lived in Georgia (pop. 9,363,941) there were 20 colleges/universities just in Atlanta. Of those, about there are 7 major institutions (Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia State, Morehouse, Agnes Scott, Ogelthorpe and Spelman). That does not count the rest of the state which probably had half a dozen Universities, including the University of Georgia. The beauty of the system there (besides it being mostly free because of the HOPE Scholarship) is that there is broad range of colleges and programs through out the state. There are 5 laws schools (two top tier, two middle tier, one bottom tier). There are probably 5 MBA programs just in Atlanta. I am not trying to rub it in, but this is what a state looks like when they take the link between economic growth and education seriously.
If Arizona wants to become a state with diverse economy with a lot of variability it must offer more education opportunities. Companies are still flocking to Atlanta in spite of the fact that the city is running out of water and that it is nightmare to live there. Build it and they will come...
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Good post. Rising tuition is a national, not local phenomenon. What is happening here is occurring across the country.
Arizona does not engage workforce development effectively. Those who try are destroyed. Our universities train individuals to leave the state for careers with a future. Relatively speaking, our state, especially outside of Maricopa county, does not have these.
I tried to make a difference in this area and got crucified.
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