Tuition Wishin'

What bothers me most about the announcement today that college costs have risen an inflation-busting 6.6% during the last 12 months is the fact that as costs rise, the number of class days shrinks. In 1964, college students were in class an average of 191 days a year, according to the National Association of Scholars; now it's more like 140. That's a 50 day difference! Ten weeks!! The Christmas break has become unconscionably long, the school year ends in early May, classes typically meet once or twice a week. The whole thing is a joke, no doubt pushed hard by faculty members, many of whom would rather not have to be in actual classrooms with actual students. These same faculty members are enjoying unprecedented prosperity and leisure, especially those at the top colleges, which are basically printing money at this point. It's hard to see what will snap this trend . . . liberal guilt, maybe?