While the price of college has been rising almost as fast as health insurance, graduation rates have stagnated. The Obama administration has responded with a new higher education plan, based on developing a new ratings system for colleges, to be ready before the 2015 school year.  The hope is to unleash market forces on the cosseted ivory tower: students (and families) will shop around for better quality and lower cost, driving the colleges to greater efficiency and quality.

Good luck getting agreement on a ratings system. Different students want different things from higher education. And government should only be supporting some of those things. Continue reading →