Unintended Consequences Department, Higher Ed: Increased College Enrollment Associated With Increased Income Inequality
At the Times Higher Ed, Chris Havergal writes:

Expansion of higher education participation can make a society more - not less - divided, a conference has heard.

Theodore Koutmeridis, research fellow in economics at the University of Glasgow, analysed US wage data spanning two and a half decades and concluded that increased university enrolment had been associated with greater wage inequality.

He told the annual congress of the European Economic Association in Geneva that this was because a higher participation rate allowed a larger proportion of talented individuals to get a degree and leave the pool of non-graduate workers.

As a result, the average quality of a less-educated worker declines and, in response, employers interpret lack of university education as a clearer indication of low ability and offer these individuals lower wages, Dr Koutmeridis said.

He cited data from the US Current Population Survey, which show that, while degree-educated workers earned roughly one and a half times the salary of school-leavers in 1970, this increased to approximately double by 1996.

There also seems to have been a devaluing of non-college-path jobs, like being a plumber.

You want to earn a good living? Be the guy who shows up to fix the toilet that won't stop overflowing, not the person who got the Ph.D. to teach Communications 101.

Meanwhile, colleges are more like summer camps for rich kids than institutions for education. The administrators protect everybody against meanies who hurt their feelings, and, as Micah Mattix writes at Free Beacon:

The availability of a seemingly endless supply of federal cash for students who, until recently, were willing to drop $50,000 to $100,000 for a credential that is still required for most well-paying jobs, has led to an "amenities race" for students, according to Lawler. Dorms are now like hotels. Concierge services are provided to students via "student affairs" offices to maximize "health, safety, and choice" on campus. On-site "amateur" sports entertain students on the weekends and supposedly build community.

I wrote about how, after a recent $56-million renovation, the "once-grim Alice Lloyd dorm I lived in back in the 80s at the University of Michigan" is now on par with fancy resort hotels and should probably be renamed "Alice Luxe."

Times via @YeyoZa