4 ms·

“Cartel”? Nonsense! Provide evidence prestigious universities are colluding on pricing. You can’t because it’s not true.

rdtwo 4y ago
The accrediting system is a cartel of sorts. It keeps supply low by keeping competition low. It’s not a perfect cartel but none of our modern ones are. They just seem to capture large chunks of the market enough so that most people are forced to work with em.
- nradov 4y ago
  That's not a real cartel. Several new colleges have achieved accreditation in recent years. There is some paperwork and expense involved but it's not a huge obstacle for any legitimate school.
  - rdtwo 4y ago
    I think a modern cartel does not need fully block competition to be successful merely slow down competitors and put up lots of road blocks such that new entrants can’t compete on cost. Many industries in the USA are quasi cartels, 2-5 companies own most of the market and competition is quashed by it being very difficult to break in. The airlines are a cartel but occasionally you see a new airline or there is a private equity attempt to cartel the vet business dispite the fact that some new independent vets can enter the market.
brnaftr361 4y ago
I have a pretty strong feeling you're being sarcastic. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/01/10/federal-lawsuit-alleges-16-elite-universities-engaged-in-price-fixing/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/01/10/fede...
- light_hue_1 4y ago
  Did you even read your own story? What does this have to do with them being a cartel or not? The story doesn't even claim they collude on pricing! It just says that admissions is not needs blind, the way that these universities claim it is.
  - brnaftr361 4y ago
    From CNN: "Back in the 1990s, the Justice Department charged several elite colleges with price-fixing, including many current members of the 568 Presidents Group. Those colleges regularly communicated and gave "essentially the same financial aid award" to any student who was admitted to multiple schools, according to congressional research. The suit ended with a settlement, and a 1994 law allowed colleges to keep working together on financial aid packages." "In writing the law, Congress specified that its goal was to spread the benefits of financial aid as broadly as possible." And if they're discriminating against lower-income families, that aid won't go to those who ostensibly need it most. Being that the filthy poors won't receive that aid, they will pay more. The dismissal was refused in August, the case is proceeding, I expect there is something veracious about it, huh?
    - AuthorizedCust 4y ago
      A few of colleges from 20 years ago? That’s all you have? The plural of (obsolete) anecdotes isn’t evidence!
- AuthorizedCust 4y ago
  100% not sarcastic. “Cartel” is a ridiculous assertion and a red herring. It distracts us from a meaningful discussion on solutions.
dudeinjapan 4y ago
Cartel: (noun) a combination of independent commercial or industrial enterprises designed to limit competition or fix prices. Limit competition: How many new entrants to the prestiguous university club (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc.) have there been in the last 50 years? Fix prices: How do you explain tuitions growing at 5x inflation consistently since 1990, in an era where information itself has become dirt cheap (the internet.) There does likely not need to be quid-pro-quo "collusion". I am not envisioning a shadowy meeting room where all the university heads smoke cigars and agree on tuitions. There doesn't need to be. Has any of the elite universities ever cut tuitions, in order to compete with the others?
- AuthorizedCust 4y ago
  Limiting competition is the result of actions. Your perception of a lack of competition isn’t evidence of any collusion to cause that.

rdtwo 4y ago

The accrediting system is a cartel of sorts. It keeps supply low by keeping competition low. It’s not a perfect cartel but none of our modern ones are. They just seem to capture large chunks of the market enough so that most people are forced to work with em.

nradov 4y ago
That's not a real cartel. Several new colleges have achieved accreditation in recent years. There is some paperwork and expense involved but it's not a huge obstacle for any legitimate school.
- rdtwo 4y ago
  I think a modern cartel does not need fully block competition to be successful merely slow down competitors and put up lots of road blocks such that new entrants can’t compete on cost. Many industries in the USA are quasi cartels, 2-5 companies own most of the market and competition is quashed by it being very difficult to break in. The airlines are a cartel but occasionally you see a new airline or there is a private equity attempt to cartel the vet business dispite the fact that some new independent vets can enter the market.

brnaftr361 4y ago

I have a pretty strong feeling you're being sarcastic. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/01/10/federal-lawsuit-alleges-16-elite-universities-engaged-in-price-fixing/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/01/10/fede...

light_hue_1 4y ago
Did you even read your own story? What does this have to do with them being a cartel or not? The story doesn't even claim they collude on pricing! It just says that admissions is not needs blind, the way that these universities claim it is.
- brnaftr361 4y ago
  From CNN: "Back in the 1990s, the Justice Department charged several elite colleges with price-fixing, including many current members of the 568 Presidents Group. Those colleges regularly communicated and gave "essentially the same financial aid award" to any student who was admitted to multiple schools, according to congressional research. The suit ended with a settlement, and a 1994 law allowed colleges to keep working together on financial aid packages." "In writing the law, Congress specified that its goal was to spread the benefits of financial aid as broadly as possible." And if they're discriminating against lower-income families, that aid won't go to those who ostensibly need it most. Being that the filthy poors won't receive that aid, they will pay more. The dismissal was refused in August, the case is proceeding, I expect there is something veracious about it, huh?
  - AuthorizedCust 4y ago
    A few of colleges from 20 years ago? That’s all you have? The plural of (obsolete) anecdotes isn’t evidence!
AuthorizedCust 4y ago
100% not sarcastic. “Cartel” is a ridiculous assertion and a red herring. It distracts us from a meaningful discussion on solutions.

dudeinjapan 4y ago

Cartel: (noun) a combination of independent commercial or industrial enterprises designed to limit competition or fix prices. Limit competition: How many new entrants to the prestiguous university club (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc.) have there been in the last 50 years? Fix prices: How do you explain tuitions growing at 5x inflation consistently since 1990, in an era where information itself has become dirt cheap (the internet.) There does likely not need to be quid-pro-quo "collusion". I am not envisioning a shadowy meeting room where all the university heads smoke cigars and agree on tuitions. There doesn't need to be. Has any of the elite universities ever cut tuitions, in order to compete with the others?

AuthorizedCust 4y ago
Limiting competition is the result of actions. Your perception of a lack of competition isn’t evidence of any collusion to cause that.