Links 2/12/09

by Andrew Gillen

Edububble finds out that "some colleges are giving the students their loan money in special debit cards that come with nasty fees." Story here.

Phi Beta Cons highlights a mini Madoff who milked UC out of an extra 100k, and then got the school to cover it up. Story here.

And last but not least, Al Roth opines about the health care market and how the law of one price does not apply. An insurer says:

The same service delivered the same way with the same outcome can vary in cost from one provider to the next by as much as 300 percent.

I can't help but opine myself that this is happening in higher education too. I would love to be proven wrong on this, but that would require value added analysis, which schools are highly resistant to.

Another good point:

some attention will have to be paid to paying for some of the things that now may be paid for with hidden cross-subsidies.

Also check out his earlier post on the effect that information can have on behavior. This too has clear parallels to higher education.