<p>Going back to the OP article, this interesting article in The Economist on the U.S.“college arms race” and related building boom makes mention of some recent trends in how colleges wind up pitting themselves against other IHEs in their pitch to attract the best and the brightest, not to mention the paying customer:</p>
<p>
Part of the explanation is demographic. The Department of Education estimates that American high schools pumped out 3,176,000 seniors in 2006, up 26% from 1995. Consequently, university enrolments swelled 24% during the same period and are projected to rise another 13% by 2015… </p>
<p>But with more students entering university, there are also more desirable applicants, a fact that encourages universities to try and expand the number of highly qualified students they can attract. New student amenities and labs help universities outdo each other. The competition for prestige, in the form of top students, prominent faculty members and grant money, is intense: it can also get remarkably petty. Last year the Dallas Morning News reported that Baylor University increased the height of its planned rock-climbing wall from 41 to 52 feet after learning that Texas A&M University’s was 44 feet. Then the University of Houston built a climbing wall that was 53 feet high, and even that was later surpassed by the University of Texas at San Antonio…
</p>
<p>[Construction</a> on campus | Just add cash | Economist.com ](<a href=“Just add cash ”>Just add cash )</p>
<p>NewHope33: yes, indeed, hindsight is always twenty-twenty, but then again, some things never change:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Muyskens</a> letter](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/asc/guidelines/policy.html]Muyskens ”>http://www.yale.edu/asc/guidelines/policy.html )</p>