January 27, 2006

Necessary Infrastructure — or Mission Inflation?

A number of observers of higher education have noted that one of the effects of the relentless pursuit of prestige among colleges is that many of them have become obsessed with attracting students with increasingly extravagant student unions, dormitories, and other facilities. Is it costing too much? Does the strategy work?

J. Douglas Toma, an associate professor at the Institute for Higher Education at the University of Georgia, is working on a book about the competition for status in