(07-13-2017 12:09 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-13-2017 11:38 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-13-2017 10:16 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  Isn't that how it's supposed to work? The market for students to choose schools is a free market and very competitive.

If a school tries to raise its price too much, students will look elsewhere.


So that should solve your concern, quo. Just get rid of all fees, and make everything be one price of tuition. Students vote with their dollars, every year.

The problem here is one of differentiation. If athletic fees are lumped in with academic fees, and I want to attend a school with good academics, then athletics can piggy-back on that.

So IMO the best solution is to make non-mission-critical activities such as athletic fees voluntary: Meaning you don't have to pay them if you don't want to. That solves the problem.

Thats not a prudent method of operation for the school. The university makes a financial commitment to create an athletic department it needs to pay those bills. If a hotel builds on a more expensive beach lot it charges a higher room rate. It cant make that premium "voluntary" because you say you arent interested in the beach. If you aren't interested in the beach---then rent a room at a hotel that's not on the beach.

If Im not in engineering, then why do I have to pay a higher building use fee because the school Im at built a new engineering building. Let just the engineering students pay for that. Surely you see the ultimate folly in this argument?

(EDIT--lol, MplsBison and I typed almost the same thought at almost the same time).

If a student doesn't want corn dogs to be put in the lunch line, they should build a new lunch line sans corn dogs for just him.