[maxerickson]

Productivity has always imposed an upper limit on wages.

[lumost]

It’s more complex than that. When universities want to give raises to admin, they simply raise prices. The ability of the university to raise prices depends on many factors.

[maxerickson]

Those wages are far below the upper limit imposed by the value of college education...

That it's possibly signaling rather than something more concrete doesn't really matter to the economic analysis.