EDST-UE 1321 / POL-UA 994 007
SPRING 2025
Political Economy of Education: Why Does College Cost So Much?
COURSE DESCRIPTION
College in the United States is expensive, really expensive. A 120 credit undergraduate degree costs at least $200,000 at many private elite universities (like NYU) – plus all sorts of miscellaneous fees, lodging and food charges, books and more. Why does it cost so much? Is it a good deal? Why do so many high school students apply to study at such expensive institutions when there are cheaper alternatives available? Who is able to attend and who is excluded? Why does college tuition keep rising so fast? Shouldn’t college be free? The purpose of this course is to provide answers to these kinds of questions. It will introduce students to a range of economic concepts and empirical evidence that speaks to: the value of higher education for individuals and for societies; federal, state, and institutional financial aid policies; university budgets and spending priorities. We will consider individual student, institutional and societal perspectives.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Distinguish key economic concepts such as cost, price, human capital, private and social returns to education, investment and consumption;
2. Describe recent trends in access to college, financial aid, higher education tuition, and labor markets in the United States;
3. Evaluate research into the key drivers of college costs and tuition;
4. Identify some solutions to decrease the costs of college and improve access and effectiveness.
The primary focus of the course is on selective private non-profit 4-year universities and colleges in the United States (like NYU), although we will occasionally consider other types of U.S. institutions, and welcome comparisons with other countries.
COURSE MATERIALS
Full details of all activities, links to readings/videos/etc. are found on Brightspace. The amount of reading should be reasonable (in general about two hours per class); many readings are just a few pages long. There are several required readings for most classes (listed below in the order of importance) and some optional (which really does mean optional) readings for those interested in a particular topic. Pay attention to the page numbers noted, as extracts have been assigned from longer pieces to reduce the workload. Both academic and nonacademic sources are included. Readings reflect multiple perspectives with which you may or may not agree! (Very occasionally you will encounter some mathematical/statistical stuff but do not be concerned if you do not understand it, as we will take a non-technical approach in this course.)