[tech_ken]

It’s more complicated than you’re implying. University capital expenditures are rational decisions when they’re competing for a national pool of students backed by cheap debt. Parents care about the student success initiatives, students care about the multibillion dollar rec center. Given the way the current higher ed market is structured, the bloated administration and vanity dorms are thus actually revenue positive. They attract top students, especially from out of state, and with them a fat stream of tuition revenue. Just cutting their funding from the top, without looking at the other half of their revenue generation, is missing the point entirely.