A Bachelor’s Degree for $10K? Yes, We Can

In his recent State of the State address, Texas Governor Rick Perry called for the state’s universities to begin offering a bachelor’s degree with a total cost (including tuition, fees, and textbooks) of only $10,000, in contrast to the current $26,800 to $45,300. If we include the cost to taxpayers, the total bill (at UT-Austin) runs to at least $95,000. Can we really reduce that cost by nearly 90%, while maintaining or even improving quality? Yes, we can, if we do two things: intelligently exploit the huge economies of scale in higher education in Texas, with 950,000 students in college;...