What Jeb Bush doesn’t understand about higher education

Jeb Bush has voiced concern about university building use and professor teaching loads driving tuition costs, but it’s not as major of an issue as he thinks.

“There are a lot of beautiful buildings being built on college campuses, but you can’t get a course on Friday afternoon. And a professor, tenured professor, may not be teaching many more courses than one per semester,” Bush said at a New Hampshire town hall, according to The Washington Post.

He added that, without financial accountability, colleges have an implicit incentive to keep students for five or six years instead of four.

He’s made “skin in the game” part of his higher education plan where he advocates financial penalties if graduation rates are low, for instance. Bush wants to spur colleges to find cost reductions to lower tuition and student loans.

Class scheduling is an issue, but Bush exaggerates the Friday afternoon class problem. Universities schedule to use space efficiently, though faculty and student pressure can dissuade non-traditional schedules. A shift toward online classes and more evening classes, though, could mean better use without Friday classes.