My list of college myths:
Myth: Colleges are poor. In fact, 76 colleges have endowments of $1 billion or more. Harvard's $34.6 billion endowment dwarfs Exxon's $22.6 billion and Microsoft's $19 billion.
Myth: Colleges aren't businesses. They're driven by the exact same forces as corporations — marketing, sales, capital expenditures, personnel. They generate more than they spend (read: profit). Their only true difference from businesses is preferential tax treatment.
Myth: You must go to college to get otherwise secret info. Thanks to the internet and high literacy rates, there's virtually no secret information that isn't available with a few mouse clicks. On any given Forbes 400 list, 10% or more never completed college.
Myth: Name brand colleges justify higher prices. The notion that one school justifies 5, 10 or even 20 times the cost of another is unsubstantiated.
Myth: Colleges care first and foremost about students. They care first about their longevity. If they truly cared about students' finances, they would spend their endowments to reduce college costs.
--MR
