I teach (primarily) in a non-subsidized graduate program; in other words, our tuition includes no state subsidy. I have doubts about whether or not we should continue to call the University of Washington a “public” institution, since less than 50 percent of undergraduate tuition is subsidized by public dollars, if I remember my faculty briefings correctly.

But we are not a private for-profit educational institution.

It turns out that private for-profit educational institutions — a growth industry — may not be the solution to higher education challenges (access to seats). In May, The Economist noted that a trader who sells short “warned investors that for-profit colleges could echo subprime mortgages.” Continue reading →