Rocky Mountain News Reports Tuition Increases - Ignores Spending

So, once again, students in the Colorado university system and their parents will be asked to pay more for tuition. The Rocky slips this university talking point into its report: "Low state funding has driven heavy tuition increases every year since the beginning of the decade."

Of course, how the money's being spent escapes all attention.  Good luck figuring out how much it takes to educate a 4-year student at CU; the university's allegedly been trying for years to figure that out, and still can't provide a number.

They've been aided and abetted in this by a liberal press willing to cover for their friend in academia, willing to shout, "academic freedom," at the slightest provocation, and unwilling to examine not merely course content but salaries, capital spending, and travel budgets.

The fact is that universities themselves are increasingly perceived as irrelevant, even as their degrees become an ever-more important entry ticket to the professions.  It's the price they're now paying for having assumed their importance for so many years, rather than having earned it.