The main theory we’ll end up at, based on the accounting data, is that college costs are driven mainly by a large increase in diversity of courses available, which results in much lower student/faculty ratios, and correspondingly higher costs per student.
The “driven by” wording in the above suggests cause. It makes it sound to me like the increase in course diversity (and decrease in student-faculty ratios) comes first, and the increased cost is the result.
Is that what you meant?
If so, I think that case has not been demonstrated in the post. I’m with Eliezer that the extra money has to be spent somewhere. And while it’s interesting to learn that it’s spent on faculty and support staff (rather than e.g. research, or w/e), it’s not at all clear to me that it tells us much about why the prices have gone up.
The “driven by” wording in the above suggests cause. It makes it sound to me like the increase in course diversity (and decrease in student-faculty ratios) comes first, and the increased cost is the result.
Is that what you meant?
If so, I think that case has not been demonstrated in the post. I’m with Eliezer that the extra money has to be spent somewhere. And while it’s interesting to learn that it’s spent on faculty and support staff (rather than e.g. research, or w/e), it’s not at all clear to me that it tells us much about why the prices have gone up.
Fair point. I don’t think the increase in course diversity was causal.
Ah, thanks for the clarification!