Since the early 1980s, the rapidly increasing cost of college,
together with what many see as inadequate attention to teaching,
has elicited a barrage of protest. "Buying the Best" looks at the
realities behind these criticisms--at the economic factors that are
in fact driving the institutions that have been described as
machines without brakes. In designing his study, Charles Clotfelter
examines the escalation in spending in the arts and sciences at
four elite institutions: Harvard, Duke, Chicago, and Carleton. He
argues that the rise in costs has less to do with increasing
faculty salaries or lowered productivity than with a broad-based
effort to improve quality, provide new services to students, pay
for large investments in new facilities and equipment (including
computers), and ensure access for low-income students through
increasingly expensive financial aid.
In Clotfelter's view, spiraling costs arise from the
institutions' lofty ambitions and are made possible by steadily
intensifying demand for places in the country's elite colleges and
universities. Only if this demand slackens will universities be
pressured to make cuts or pursue efficiencies. "Buying the Best" is
the first study to make use of the internal historical records of
specific institutions, as opposed to the frequently unreliable
aggregate records made available by the federal government for the
use of survey researchers. As such, it has the virtue of allowing
Clotfelter to draw much more realistic comparative conclusions than
have hitherto been reported. While acknowledging the obvious
drawbacks of a small sample, Clotfelter notes that the institutions
studied are significant for the disproportionate influence they,
and comparable elite institutions, exercise upon research and upon
the training of future leaders. The book contains a foreword by
William G. Bowen, President of the Mellon Foundation, and Harold T.
Shapiro, President of Princeton University.
"Concern about ever-rising costs runs like a thread through the
myriad critiques of higher education that have been published in
recent years. . . . One of the great contributions of Clotfelter's
work is to dismiss easy explanations for the problems that worry
us. With some of the scales removed from their eyes, both those
with responsibility for the future of higher education and
observers who continue to expect an ever-wider scope of effort from
particular colleges and universities, can now adjust their focus.
Armed with this original and extremely useful analysis, we can
confront more directly (and with less romanticism) the real choices
before us as we seek to employ limited resources most effectively
in the service of teaching and research."-William G. Bowen,
President, Mellon Foundation, Harold T. Shapiro, President,
Princeton University, from the foreword
Originally published in 1996.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these
important books while presenting them in durable paperback
editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly
increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the
thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since
its founding in 1905.
General
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
National Bureau of Economic Research Publications |
Release date: |
July 2014 |
First published: |
July 2014 |
Authors: |
Charles T. Clotfelter
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
334 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-691-60136-6 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Education >
Higher & further education >
General
|
LSN: |
0-691-60136-4 |
Barcode: |
9780691601366 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!