> "tracked" to influential positions. Consequently, high tuition may not
> necessarily serve as an entry barrier to higher classes - it might be
> simply a result of "academic keynesianism:" government payments to private
> institutions to maintain a certain level of demand for their products.
Well, there are two realities happening here: real wages have been clobbered for 30 years, while public support for higher ed has been strangled. Oregon's higher ed system got half a billion dollars in state subsidies as late as 1990; now they get around half that. Raising tuition is a matter of sheer survival for public universities, and most students have no choice but to take out loans and pray for inflation.
-- Dennis