San Diego Law Review
Document Type
Article
Abstract
College is one of the costliest investments many people make; yet, prospective students are often not provided accurate information about the cost of college, nor are they provided information about the likely outcomes upon completion of a degree. Rather than address the problem by focusing on ballooning college debt, we propose that the rules that apply to sellers of other services and investments should apply to colleges. Colleges behave much like competitive firms. They engage in costly efforts to lure students. They sometimes produce false or misleading information that gives students the impression of higher payoffs from a degree than are likely to occur. For-profit firms would face litigation under consumer protection laws for similar behavior. Applying the same truth-in-advertising rules that apply to most firms would help address this problem. Students would better understand the cost and likely return on their investments if they were provided financial information similar to that required to be given to prospective investors in other investments. Finally, colleges act in concert via accrediting agencies to cartelize higher education, often making the costs of college higher than they need to be.
DOI
2024
Recommended Citation
Roger E. Meiners & Andrew P. Morriss,
Treating Higher Education as an Investment,
61
San Diego L. Rev.
1
(2024).
Available at:
https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol61/iss1/2