While I'm not going to completely disagree with you, I think it's important to note that the notion that "the student is a customer" has some gotcha clauses.
Namely, at public universities (which are very common and typically have the largest student populations), a very large (usually a majority) portion of the tuition for in-state students is being subsidized by the government. Even tuition for out-of-state students is subsidized, though usually at a much lower rate.
It is often true, even at private universities, that tuition costs are a fraction of the total cost of attendance. I recently graduated from MIT, where tuition & fees come to $37,782 every year. I had the opportunity to work as a tour guide there, and was repeatedly exposed to the factoid that this is less than half of the cost of actually providing a year's worth of education to an undergraduate at MIT.
This doesn't even factor in financial aid. According to Student Financial Services, 90% of undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. 59% of them are awarded a need-based scholarship that doesn't have to be paid back (i.e., free money)--and the average award is $29,900! Counting only those awards, the average undergrad pays $20,000 a year out of the $76,000 or more his/her education costs--just over a quarter, using conservative figures!
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While I'm not going to completely disagree with you, I think it's important to note that the notion that "the student is a customer" has some gotcha clauses.
Namely, at public universities (which are very common and typically have the largest student populations), a very large (usually a majority) portion of the tuition for in-state students is being subsidized by the government. Even tuition for out-of-state students is subsidized, though usually at a much lower rate.
It is often true, even at private universities, that tuition costs are a fraction of the total cost of attendance. I recently graduated from MIT, where tuition & fees come to $37,782 every year. I had the opportunity to work as a tour guide there, and was repeatedly exposed to the factoid that this is less than half of the cost of actually providing a year's worth of education to an undergraduate at MIT.
This doesn't even factor in financial aid. According to Student Financial Services, 90% of undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. 59% of them are awarded a need-based scholarship that doesn't have to be paid back (i.e., free money)--and the average award is $29,900! Counting only those awards, the average undergrad pays $20,000 a year out of the $76,000 or more his/her education costs--just over a quarter, using conservative figures!