I’m on my school’s governance committee (called the Site Council: it includes parents, students, admin, teachers) and we are making financial decisions right now based on what I think are false assumptions, assumptions that originate from some of the numbers you cited.

First I’m told in these meetings that because a majority of our students drop out before getting a degree that we must spend money to hike up our college prep credentials. I believe the 40% completion rate reflects quite sensible cost-benefit calculations that young people make every day. {Insert stipulation here that some kids are ill prepared} Read David Labaree on ‘credential inflation’. Read Marty Nemko on the inflated cost of a college degree.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/03/_im_on_my_schools.html