Quandry

We applaud Forbes magazine for its possibly inadvertent efforts yesterday to heighten awareness of the complexities of higher education policy. In an op-ed in its “America’s Best Colleges” issue and on its Web site, Senator Charles Grassley makes the case that colleges are too rich and that they need to spend more of their endowments on student aid rather than on attracting new students. In a companion article, Forbes announced the launch of their new college ranking system that, when you look closely at the fine print, rewards colleges with large endowments for allowing their professors to pursue specialized scholarship and thus win awards, honors and other recognition.

When reading these two articles, it's seems as if Forbes is telling us that colleges are too rich, but that they have to be rich to be good. See the irony? This media clutter is a major reason NAICU developed U-CAN, a free online consumer information resource that lets students and parents decide for themselves which institution ranks as their best option.

So our thanks goes to Forbes.com for their insightful treatment of a quandry facing higher education - how to compete in a complex market without competing in a complex market.