We've been pickering for six days about college education, which is about three days longer than the rest of the blogosphere. Not that I'm keeping track or anything. 

After all that bickering, no one has convinced me why I would send my kid to a private college for $30-55K, instead of a state college of equal educational quality for $10-15K. Especially when that difference in price means a life time of college debt. 

The trouble is that state colleges may not be able to maintain their quality or their low price tag. 

Peter Orzag writes that under pressure from failing state governments, state colleges are not keeping up private colleges on a number of measures. With the effects of globalization and a poor labor market, we need quality college graduates more than ever.

His suggestions are interesting: 

One place to start would be to focus on raising productivity in public higher education, so that we could do a better job of delivering quality with constrained budgets. Would we be better off if research dollars were even more concentrated in fewer institutions, and a larger share of faculty specialized in teaching (which is often given short shrift at research universities)? Can more businesses partner with public colleges to create curriculums to teach specific job skills? Can remote learning and online coursework, especially for remedial subjects, finally realize their potential?