*The Student Loan Mess*, and implicit vs. explicit leverage in higher education

I reviewed this very good and very useful book by Eric and Joel Best in the 28 November issue of the Times Literary Supplement, not on-line.  Here is one excerpt from my review:

The second problem is that American higher education is much more indebted than it appears at first glance.  Most non-profit colleges and universities have only small amounts of explicit debt on their books, but there are many forms of implicit debt.  Many of those institutions made salary commitments to tenured faculty members, or promised donors they would continue various programmes, or they initiated or expanded sports teams and facilities, hoping to fund those plans with future tuition increases.  A slow economic recovery, sluggish entry-level wages in labour markets, recalcitrant state legislatures, and, yes, the student debt crisis will make those tuition increases very difficult to pull off.  This liquidity crunch is already under way and it has come first to the profit-making institutions and to stand-alone business and law schools, which will be closing and consolidating in great numbers.

I call it “probably the best and clearest book on the United States’ complex student debt problem.”  You can buy the book here.  Also buy the TLS issue, it is their best of the year, as it contains an especially fine “Best Books of the Year” list, you can stop worrying about TNR now.