Education

American universities need lesson in capitalism

26 Dec 2013

Spiraling degree costs are an economic drag, with $1.2 trln of student debt and parents’ savings hit. Yet graduate income is falling. President Obama is pushing for better value for money. A few colleges are already showing how education can pay off for students and country.

Pearson makes a tidy turn in the merger market

29 Nov 2013

The UK publisher is selling Mergermarket to private equity at an enterprise value of 382 mln stg - far more than it paid for the news and data firm. Loyal subscribers, good cashflows, and potential bolt-on deals are probably bigger draws for the buyer than any M&A resurgence.

Will the real Michelle Bachelet please stand up?

18 Nov 2013

After navigating Chile through the 2008 crisis she now wants another shot as president. But on education, tax and the constitution she wants to reverse factors that have allowed Chile to stand out from its neighbors. Striking a balance between business and students will be key.

Trump gives for-profit education an even worse rap

26 Aug 2013

American schools looking to make a buck have been scrutinized recently for taking students’ money but providing lackluster results. The Donald’s foray into the industry did it no favors. New York’s $40 mln lawsuit underscores the need for institutions to make credentials clear.

Obama college cost-cutting plan gets gentleman’s C

23 Aug 2013

The president aims to hold down tuition and loans by rating schools according to the value they deliver. But a proposed cap on debt repayments could encourage even more student borrowing. That and similarly counterproductive details pull down an otherwise useful program’s grade.

Buyout of teachers’ weeklies looks tricky. Discuss

9 Jul 2013

Is TSL a professional social network built on user-generated content? Or is the publisher of the Times Higher Education magazine a cyclical, ad-driven business that will struggle to grow overseas? Only the first answer will give new owner TPG top marks for its $600 mln investment.

Student loan rate hike is a D.C. dysfunction bonus

1 Jul 2013

Congressional inaction means Uncle Sam-backed college borrowing costs double to 6.8 pct. That should curb the rapid rise of such debt, now at nearly $1 trln. It might even slow education inflation. It’s a rare case of useful policy that doesn’t require waiting for the Fed.

Remodeled MBA program makes good business sense

28 Jun 2013

UCLA’s Anderson school will no longer rely on California taxpayers. Filling the funding gap from revenue-generating programs and alumni gifts should restrain tuition cost growth. That may help woo students to degrees that lead to high-paying jobs and ultimately help the economy.

Supreme Court delays demise of racial preferences

24 Jun 2013

The U.S. justices told a lower court to rethink its approval of race-based affirmative action, but it’s time to move on. Class-based alternatives can create greater economic mobility with less resentment or legal scrutiny. The ruling is a chance to give them a bigger role.

“Schwarzman scholarships” have many beneficiaries

22 Apr 2013

The Blackstone founder’s $100 million donation for a Beijing study programme may not be wholly philanthropic - China lost much more than that investing in his buyout firm’s IPO. But improving links between Chinese and Western elites is a noble and necessary cause.

Law schools’ hard sell unseemly in soft job market

14 Nov 2012

The legal industry is hurting, the good old days might not return and two big firms are merging. Yet deans lure students in with scholarships and hints of an upturn. Schools can’t be blamed for trying to survive. But denying the profession has changed does students a disservice.

West still rules in global education

5 Oct 2012

The original homelands of modernity - Europe, the U.S. and their close cousins - account for 90 percent of the world’s top 200 universities in the new Times Higher Education rankings. Developing nations are trying to catch up, but this cultural advantage is likely to persist.

Bigger bucks come to Supreme Court clerks who wait

3 Oct 2012

Top U.S. law firms are offering $280,000 signing bonuses to lure the best young lawyers. But many do stints with the government first. A new Breakingviews calculator shows how that path can be financially smarter over the long run. Uncle Sam gets to hire the best talent, too.

Law schools owe students truth about job market

25 Sep 2012

Goosing graduates’ employment statistics isn’t illegal, several courts have ruled. But it’s shameful nonetheless. With work scarce and tuition soaring, lawyer wannabes deserve honesty from institutions that teach legal ethics. Caveat emptor makes for a lousy school motto.

Silicon Valley gift brings market to Oxford degree

12 Jul 2012

Venture capitalist Michael Moritz has donated 75 mln pounds to finance grants for poor students. Such schemes encourage colleges to control costs and produce other grateful graduates. It’s a better system than state grants where the less well off support the soon-to-be rich.

Wall Street defeated by Ivory Tower in Virginia

27 Jun 2012

The U. of Virginia’s president beat back an ouster supported by hedgie Paul Tudor Jones and a former Goldman Sachs exec. But victory may be pyrrhic. For Thomas Jefferson’s school to survive in a bleaker fiscal world, the paradigm shifts Teresa Sullivan resisted look unavoidable.

Law school deans could do with some Econ 101

17 Apr 2012

Tuition at the likes of Yale and Stanford keeps rising faster than inflation, despite fewer aspiring lawyers in the United States. And job prospects for graduates are getting worse. Despite their advanced skills, legal educators haven’t yet mastered the law of supply and demand.

Student debt may land double whammy on US growth

20 Mar 2012

Graduates are forking over far more in loan repayments than a decade ago, easily outstripping salary growth. Over time, that’ll dent GDP. Defaults are rising, too. With Uncle Sam now holding $450 bln of student debt and rising, that puts taxpayers on the hook - again.

Greedy law schools taught jobless grads too well

16 Mar 2012

Disgruntled lawyers are suing their alma maters for exaggerating employment prospects. That seems fitting for a litigious lot with buyers’ remorse over a $120,000 education. A lousy job market isn’t the schools’ fault, but training these cheeky legal eagles may be.

Chilean Winter tests the country’s economic model

28 Sep 2011

Mass protests over education mask a deeper divide over the post-Pinochet preference for market-based, rather than state, solutions. The Chicago Boys got it mostly right, but not on education. Resolving the current dilemma may require fundamental philosophical reform - and money.