Budget Cuts and Higher Education - Jennifer Wheary, Policy Shop

College administrators spent the weekend "on notice" after President Obama called them out for being complicit and complacent in escalating tuition costs in both his State of the Union address and his visit to the University of Michigan last Friday. Obama's "on notice" line has gotten a lot of press. As a piece of oratory, it is quite smart. Media audiences love get-tough antagonism, and the inherent "Fix this or else!" ultimatum sounds convincing. Here's the problem with it though. The more the "on notice" ultimatum gets repeated, the more it morphs into finger pointing rather than collective responsibility, and the more we misunderstand the college tuition crisis and what solutions can actually address it. With tuition rates rising more than 400 percent over the last 25 years, there is no shortage of well-placed critiques about whether parents and students are getting the best value for their money and whether schools are taking advantage of consumers