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Assuming the number of private schools that students want to go is in no way supply limited, which is an incorrect assumption. How long does it take to build a

Assuming the number of private schools that students want to go is in no way supply limited, which is an incorrect assumption. How long does it take to build and staff a private school? How long to get it into US News top 500? Even something like increasing the number of students admitted to existing private schools is tricky because they are tracked on their admission percentage.

stale2002 9y ago
You don't have to create a new college. All that has to happen is for EXISTING colleges to realize that they can make a ton more money by expanding in size. Obviously, this doesn't happen overnight. You have to hire new employees, buy more land, and build more buildings. But I'd argue that this process would happen a lot, lot quicker than "create new college". Colleges are already expanding all the time.
- matchbok 9y ago
  You don't think they know that? I'm sure they do. But the other option is to stay the same size, but charge much more. Either way, more money. Only one solution demands building more classrooms and housing.
  - jononor 9y ago
    The more you charge the more valuable you are seen to be.
  - stale2002 9y ago
    Competition would prove otherwise. If a single college doubles in size, the effect on total college supply is minimal. You double the amount of quantity sold, for You, while only slightly decreasing price, because Total college supply has only barely increased. It is simple supply and demand in a competitive market.
    - learc83 9y ago
      It's not that simple. A huge part of what makes a particular college attractive is selectivity. Acceptance rates are tracked and reported. Harvard and Yale are ranked so highly that they could get away with it. But they won't do it for other reasons. Mainly that they don't need the money coming in from tuition. If you take a private school a bit further down the list though, their rankings would tank if they accepted twice the students. Also there are other limiting factors. Many colleges don't have the physical space to just double in size. Their isn't land for sale within walking distance of their current campuses. Adding satellite campuses is one way around that, but that adds logistical problems that will reduce desirability. In addition to satellite campuses not always inheriting the reputation of the main campus. Additionally you can't simply double the student to faculty ratio b/c that would tank rankings, and hiring double the faculty takes time. You also don't know which departments you need to scale beforehand. If you decide to double your enrollment in the next 5 years, which majors will the new students choose? It's unlikely the ratios would stay the same. Good programs don't always scale well either. If a department worked hard over the last 20 years to build a good reputation, they can't just hire 20 new faculty members and teach twice the number of students without impacting quality. Schools do expand all the time, but it is a very slow process that by its nature can't keep up with a constant growth in demand.

stale2002 9y ago

You don't have to create a new college. All that has to happen is for EXISTING colleges to realize that they can make a ton more money by expanding in size. Obviously, this doesn't happen overnight. You have to hire new employees, buy more land, and build more buildings. But I'd argue that this process would happen a lot, lot quicker than "create new college". Colleges are already expanding all the time.

matchbok 9y ago
You don't think they know that? I'm sure they do. But the other option is to stay the same size, but charge much more. Either way, more money. Only one solution demands building more classrooms and housing.
- jononor 9y ago
  The more you charge the more valuable you are seen to be.
- stale2002 9y ago
  Competition would prove otherwise. If a single college doubles in size, the effect on total college supply is minimal. You double the amount of quantity sold, for You, while only slightly decreasing price, because Total college supply has only barely increased. It is simple supply and demand in a competitive market.
  - learc83 9y ago
    It's not that simple. A huge part of what makes a particular college attractive is selectivity. Acceptance rates are tracked and reported. Harvard and Yale are ranked so highly that they could get away with it. But they won't do it for other reasons. Mainly that they don't need the money coming in from tuition. If you take a private school a bit further down the list though, their rankings would tank if they accepted twice the students. Also there are other limiting factors. Many colleges don't have the physical space to just double in size. Their isn't land for sale within walking distance of their current campuses. Adding satellite campuses is one way around that, but that adds logistical problems that will reduce desirability. In addition to satellite campuses not always inheriting the reputation of the main campus. Additionally you can't simply double the student to faculty ratio b/c that would tank rankings, and hiring double the faculty takes time. You also don't know which departments you need to scale beforehand. If you decide to double your enrollment in the next 5 years, which majors will the new students choose? It's unlikely the ratios would stay the same. Good programs don't always scale well either. If a department worked hard over the last 20 years to build a good reputation, they can't just hire 20 new faculty members and teach twice the number of students without impacting quality. Schools do expand all the time, but it is a very slow process that by its nature can't keep up with a constant growth in demand.