EDLD 573: Economics of Education Fall 2009, MRH 211, Mondays 5:30 – 8:20 Professor: Fred Galloway, galloway@sandiego.edu Office Phone/Fax: #275H, 619-260-7435/619-849-8175 Office Hours: Mondays and Tuesdays: 2:30 – 5:00 and by appointment
Although this is only the second time that this course has ever been offered at USD, there are few topics more important or relevant in the world today than the economics of education. In fact, for the last fifteen years national polling data has suggested that these two areas – education and economics – are the areas of greatest concern to the average citizen in the United States. To explore such contemporary issues as educational finance, the labor market for teachers, and the returns to education, students must first develop a solid, structural understanding of the basic principles of economic analysis. Since there are no prerequisites for this course, the first three weeks of the course will be devoted to understanding and mastering these basic tools. Although no specific textbook is assigned for this part of the course, students are free to select from the myriad of introductory economics textbooks currently available. In fact, students are urged to make use of any basic economics texts already in their possession – just stop by my office and I’ll gladly point out the relevant sections. Once we have erected the necessary analytical scaffolding, the rest of the course will examine some of the most important, but least understood policy issues on the national agenda. Our journey through the economics of education will cover human capital theory and the returns to education; educational labor markets and the factors that influence them; how local schools are funded and the voucher movement; trends in college and university pricing; market failure and the governmental provision of student loans; and the increasing grant-loan imbalance in higher educational finance. Taken together, mastery of these issues will provide students with an important lens for viewing public policy decisions in education, as well as a set of analytic skills that will pay enormous dividends in the future. Given the lack of any contemporary, comprehensive textbook in this area, readings for this part of the course will consist of policy briefs, governmental reports, and journal articles. Although most of these readings can be electronically downloaded at no cost from the Internet, others will either be placed on reserve at Copley Library or handed out in class. These articles are grouped by topic and week of instruction and can be found in the last section of this syllabus. In terms of assessment, grading in the course will be quite simple – there are two equally weighted exams – one in-class and one take-home -- and class participation through regular discussions of the issues contained in the readings. There is no comprehensive final exam or project. As in all of my classes, the quality of the participation in class is infinitely more important than the quantity, and, in fact, monopolizing class time will actually lower your participation grade in the course.
Furthermore, all students are expected to do the required readings before class so that the resulting discussions can be as rich and valuable as possible. Your final grade in the course will be based on the following distribution of total points: Midterm #1 (In-Class) Midterm #2 (Take-Home) Class Participation and Discussion Date
Readings
35% 35% 30%
Lecture Coverage
September 14
Course Overview and Structure
September 21
The Basics: Supply and Demand
September 28
The Basics: Market Equilibrium and Comparative Statics
October 5
The Basics: Cost-Benefit Analysis
October 12
Extensions of Cost Benefit Analysis
October 19
Human Capital and the Returns to Education
October 26
The Dynamics of Educational Labor Markets
October 29 1
Special Topics in the Economics of Education
November 2
MIDTERM #1
November 9
K-12 School Finance
November 16
School Choice and the Voucher Movement
November 23
Trends in College and University Pricing
November 30
Market Failure and Higher Education Finance
December 7
Higher Education Finance: Grants and Loans
December 14
Competition and the Future of Student Loans
December 21
MIDTERM #2 Due
1
Please note that this class, which takes place on a Thursday evening, involves students attending a lecture on campus by Dr. Rick Hanushek, a nationally recognized expert on the economics of education. The lecture runs from 4:30 – 6:00 and involves a reception immediately following the event.
Reading List Human Capital and the Returns to Education Baum, Sandy and Payea, Kathleen. Education Pays 2007, College Board, 2007. (www/collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2007/ed-pay2007.pdf) The Institute for Higher Education Policy. Reaping the Benefits: Defining the Public and Private Value of Going to College, Washington DC: The Institute for Higher Education Policy and The Education Resources Institute, March 1998. www.ihep.org/publications The Institute for Higher Education Policy. Contributing to the Civic Good: Assessing and Accounting for the Civic Contributions of Higher Education, Washington DC: The Institute for Higher Education Policy and The Education Resources Institute, July 1999. www.ihep.org/publications Mortenson, Thomas. “Why College? Private Correlates of Educational Attainment,” Postsecondary Education Opportunity, March 1999. (Handout) The Dynamics of Educational Labor Markets Hartle, Terry and Galloway, Fred. “Too Many PhDs? Too Many MDs”, Change Magazine, Volume 28, Number 5 (September/October), Washington DC: American Association for Higher Education, 1996. (Handout) The Institute for Higher Education Policy. Now What? Life After College for Recent Graduates, Washington DC: The Institute for Higher Education Policy and The Education Resources Institute, September 1997. www.ihep.org/publications K-12 School Finance Carey, Kevin. “Overview of K-12 Education Finance”, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Washington DC, 2002. (www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1a/b6/c f.pdf) Kemerer, Frank, Galloway, Fred & Hubbard, Lea. (2009). San Diego Unified School District Profile Study. Center for Educational Policy and Law, University of San Diego. Kemerer, Frank and Sansom, Peter. “Equity, Adequacy, and School Finance”, in California School Law, 2nd ed, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009. (On Reserve) School Choice and the Voucher Movement
Ladd, Helen. “School Vouchers: A Critical View”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 16, No. 4, Fall 2002, p. 3-24. (www.jstor.org/stable/3216912?seq=21) Kemerer, Frank and Sugerman, Stephen. School Choice and Social Controversy, Chapters 1-3, Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999. (On Reserve) Trends in College and University Pricing College Board, Trends in College Pricing 2007, 2007. (http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/trends/trends_pricing_0 7.pdf) Hartle, Terry and Galloway, Fred. “Will Congress Raise the Cost of College?, Trusteeship Magazine, 1995. (Handout) Immerwhar, John and Johnson, Jean. “Squeeze Play 2009: The Public’s View on College Costs Today”, Public Agenda for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2009. (http://www.makingopportunityaffordable.org/page/resources/library/squeeze-play-2009publics-views-college-cost-today) National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 2008, U.S. Department of Education. (http://nces.ed.gov/prgrams/coe), 2008. Wolfram, Gary. “Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid”, CATO Institute, 2005. (http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa531.pdf) Market Failure and Higher Education Finance American Council on Education. ACE Fact Sheet on Higher Education: Pell Grants, 2004. (Handout) College Board. Trends in Student Aid 2007, 2007. (http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/trends/trends_aid_07.p df) Fischer, Frederick. “State Financing of Higher Education: A New Look at an Old Problem”, Change, 1990. (Handout) Galloway, Fred and Price, Derek. “The policy history of student loans in the United States”, in P. Quirk & W. Cunion (Eds.), Governing America: Major Policies and Decisions of Federal, State, and Local Government. Facts on File Publishing (in press). (Handout)
Terry-Long, Bridget. What is known about the Impact of Financial Aid? Implications for Policy, National Center for Postsecondary Research Working Paper, April 2008. (http://www.postsecondaryresearch.org/i/a/document/6963_LongFinAid.pdf) Higher Education Finance: Grants and Loans American Council on Education. “Funding History of the Pell Grant Program”, prepared by the Division of Governmental Relations, American Council on Education, September 1995. (Handout) American Council on Education. Student Borrowing in the 1990s, 2001. www.acenet.edu Galloway, Fred. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, July 17, 1999. (Handout) US Department of Education. Funding Education beyond High School: The Guide to Federal Student Aid, 2008-09, 2008. (http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/FundingEduBeyondHighSch ool_0809.pdf) Competition and the Future of Student Loans Galloway, Fred and Wilson, Hoke. “Reframing the Student Loan Costing Debate”, Educational Policy Institute, June 2005. (http://www.educationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/loandebate.pdf) The Institute for Higher Education Policy. The Future of Private Loans: Who is Borrowing and Why?, December 2006. (www.ihep.org/assets/files/publications/af/FuturePrivateLoans.pdf) The Project on Student Debt. Addressing Student Loan Repayment Burdens: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Current System, February 2006. (http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/WHITE_PAPER_FINAL_PDF.pdf) The Project on Student Debt. Student Debt and the Class of 2006, September 2007. (http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/state_by_state_report_FINAL.pdf) The Project on Student Debt. “Policy Agenda to Address Rising Student Debt”, June, 2007. (http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/Private_Loan_agenda.pdf) The Project on Student Debt. “Quick Facts about Student Debt”, September 2007. (http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/files/Debt_Facts_and_Sources.pdf) The Project on Student Debt. “Improving Consumer Protection for Private Student Loans”, June 2007. (http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub_view.php?idx=243)