> US universities are not coveted because they're so better, they're coveted because they give privileged access to the US market and in a vicious circle the US academic employments. It's where the money and prestige are at, that's their draw.
Of course. This was my point about the demand side of supply and demand.
> And this means the US universities could also be much much cheaper and be good too. It's the incentives which are misaligned for that, not some impossibility...
I didn't say it was impossible. Indeed I was talking about the incentives. You're almost making my point for me by mentioning that people are flocking to the US for economic opportunities, while US students are not flocking to other countries for a cheaper education.
When you talk about a "fair" charge, that can be understood in a number of ways. In terms of market price, what's fair in one country may not be fair in another country, because the markets are different, the supply and demand is different. Whereas if you're talking about fairness in a kind of moral or societal sense, I think it's fair to ask whether the price of a social service ought to depend in some way on one's income, in such a way that the wealthy beneficiaries of the system pay more than the poor. That's a legitimate sociopolitical debate, nothing strange about it, I'd say. After all, certain forms of college financial aid have always depended on those factors.
Of course. This was my point about the demand side of supply and demand.
> And this means the US universities could also be much much cheaper and be good too. It's the incentives which are misaligned for that, not some impossibility...
I didn't say it was impossible. Indeed I was talking about the incentives. You're almost making my point for me by mentioning that people are flocking to the US for economic opportunities, while US students are not flocking to other countries for a cheaper education.
When you talk about a "fair" charge, that can be understood in a number of ways. In terms of market price, what's fair in one country may not be fair in another country, because the markets are different, the supply and demand is different. Whereas if you're talking about fairness in a kind of moral or societal sense, I think it's fair to ask whether the price of a social service ought to depend in some way on one's income, in such a way that the wealthy beneficiaries of the system pay more than the poor. That's a legitimate sociopolitical debate, nothing strange about it, I'd say. After all, certain forms of college financial aid have always depended on those factors.