I've always been unsatisfied with the tuition vs government explanation of tuition fees for the high rates of tuition at some American universities. A lot of schools charge 20, 30 or 40k a year or more, and it seems obvious that the fees should not be that high even if students are paying the full cost of their undergraduate education. Likewise, unless costs come under control, government involvement won't prevent tuition from rising as there's a limit to government largesse.
Enter the following excellent article from Counterpunch:
http://counterpunch.org/parrish03012010.html [1]
Who Runs the University of California?
By WILL PARRISH and DARWIN BOND-GRAHAM
Parrish and Bond-Graham have been looking at the UC system and trying to explain why tuition is so high. Should it really be tens of thousands of dollars with all that government money? They find two culprits:
1 - Construction costs
2 - Administrative Fees
Corruption seems to be the general issue. In the former, it seems that a lot of the regents in UC are major shareholders and players at the same big banks who give out student loans. In turn, they are also often big players in the construction companies that build the buildings. Total gravy train.
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What, in your view, would be the right approach of California students currently protesting their tuition payments?
Links:
[1] http://counterpunch.org/parrish03012010.html
[2] http://rabble.ca/user
[3] http://rabble.ca/user/register