The 10 most expensive colleges

mini
Tue, 01 Nov 2005 12:22:49 +0000

Yup. It’s called “repositioning”. It has been done with cars, jewelry stores, luggage, etc.

My favorite example (which is no reflection on the college one way or the other today, because I don’t much about it today) is Georgetown. In the 60s, 70s, and perhaps into the early 80s, this was (as far as I am aware) generally considered a second or even third-rate place, certainly considered below St. John’s University in New York, or Fordham, for example. Close to half the undergraduate faculty were Jesuit priests, paid next to nothing for their services. The Jesuits owned the land, free and clear. There was virtually no investment in science programs (is there today?), and they picked up a lot of extra cash by offering night classes for lower ranking members of the foreign diplomatic corps. A series of circumstances probably starting with the attendance of Patrick Ewing allowed them to raise prices very substantially (far out of line with any increase in costs or investment, from the little I know), and turn a Volkswagen into a BMW. And now it is, whatever it is, and a very desirable place to be, if you have the money. (I think NYU and George Washington both did something very similar - among New Yorkers, when I was in high school, NYU was where the City College rejects went, if they could afford it, and GW was where the NYU rejects went, if they could afford it.)

These schools might be excellent places to be today, and likely are - I honestly don’t know one way or the other - if you’ve got the money to pay for them. That’s the point!