One of the most widely cited explanations for rising college prices is that state and local governments have been cutting funding for higher education for decades. According to this view, universities raise tuition to make up for the lost funding. This type of observation has been repeated so frequently that it is accepted as gospel. Just last month, a New York Times article stunned readers when it suggested that states have cut funding for colleges in half since 1980.The problem with these claims is that they are based on a lot of rhetorical and statistical gymnastics that render even true statements misleading.
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