From an article on Bowen, one of the theorists behind the Cost Disease model of higher education inflation:

At a recent conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bowen looked around a room of mostly Ivy League faculty members gathered at an invitation-only conference about the future of the residential college in the digital age. There were, it was clear, few leaders from public universities or community colleges, though they arguably struggle the most with costs and have students who could most benefit from cheaper education.

“If you want to be truly useful in the world, think beyond rarefied air,” Bowen told his elite colleagues.

I can’t stress this enough. Problems at state institutions, especially less prestigious state institutions, are not at all the problems of the tier one universities. Which is why the powers that be keep solving the wrong problems again and again.

About seventy percent of American college students come through the state college systems. If you’re looking to improve educational outcomes and cost for American students and seventy percent of the people in the room *aren’t* from the state college systems, you’re probably doing it wrong. If almost no one in the room is from those systems, you’re likely doing more harm than good.

Our numbers are generally publicly listed. We’re as insightful about our institutions as you are about yours. Call us!