I think that tax exemptions for universities should come with a lot more strings attached. These exemptions are actually worth considerably more per undergradu

I think that tax exemptions for universities should come with a lot more strings attached. These exemptions are actually worth considerably more per undergraduate that even the best state funded public institutions receive per undergraduate. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/09/harvard_yale_stanford_endowments_is_it_time_to_tax_them.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/09/harv... Here's the report http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/09/harvard_yale_stanford_endowments_is_it_time_to_tax_them.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/09/harv... Personally, I think one condition should be to increase the scale of undergraduate admission. Berkeley and UCLA, for instance, enroll around 25,000 undergraduates, whereas Harvard and Stanford are in the 6,000-8,000 range. This is of course a favorable arrangement for Stanford - enrolling very few undergraduates keeps the US News numbers happy, and allows them to focus mainly on research and graduate students. They shower a massive amount of money on a small and largely affluent student body, and enjoy a huge tax advantage because they benefit the public. Although these institutions are generous with low income students, keep in mind that they 1) enroll a much lower percentage of low income students than UCLA or Berkeley, and 2) enroll far fewer students overall. As a result, Berkeley enrolls more low income students than the entire Ivy League combined. This is true of UCLA and several other UC campuses. Why are we giving Harvard and Stanford a huge tax break in order to shower benefits on a tiny and largely affluent student body? The state funding for Berkeley and UCLA comes with all kinds of strings attached, and it's considerably less per undergrad than the value of this tax break. We have, through policy, put our public institutions at a severe financial disadvantage. This isn't just a result of market forces or choice, this is built into our tax code and regulatory state.