[quote=@catchamber]As if tolerating the status quo, or advocating for even higher scarcity while undermining the foundations of the industry's accountability, are better alternatives.[/quote]

It [i]is[/i] the foundation of the industry's accountability. We have a whole federalized system to enforce it (accreditation). "I graduated from Harvard" is a statement that has economic value because it is not easily accessible; it has value because it means something to employers. PhD means something because of the barriers to achieving one. The change you propose (which, again -- I like!) undermines [i]everything about[/i] the field of higher education. More power to ya -- but nobody in that industry (or any industry interested in hiring graduates) wants this. This kills them. Again, I'm okay with that, but don't expect cooperation.

[quote]The investment will massively pay itself back in countless ways, because the scarcity will decline if actively combatted, and both efficiency and profits in every sector will improve as a result. Growth is assured, because entry barriers will be removed and demand will be increased.[/quote]

Rule of thumb: when you, or I, or anyone, says the words "growth is assured," that necessarily means we are talking out of our ass. Notably: enforcing a price ceiling [i]has never once in the history of mankind encouraged growth,[/i] and never will. If we enforced this change on secondary educators at gunpoint, what we'd wind up with is a pretty good way of teaching everything we know in 2018, and in 2025 it'd be obsolete with no hope of recovery ever, because your incentives are completely out of whack. "The commons" is a tragedy, not a power ballad. 

[quote]Who cares if they don't play along? They can just get their subsidies cut, if they want to continue stalling economic growth by draining capital for their short sighted benefit.[/quote]

I read something once about killing the golden goose. I believe the moral was "Don't." [b]If[/b] college education really is the driving force behind economic growth (and I don't think it is, but I gather that's part of your argument) -- you should be careful of the ways in which you fuck with it. Chaining the industry to a low-profit public good drum circle seems wildly irresponsible -- can't you just, you know.... go to a trade school, make six figures as a third-year carpenter, and laugh all the way to the bank? The only capital they're draining is what you give them willingly (and what the DoE gives them with your tax bucks, but that's more what I was talking about in my proposal).

BOILING IT DOWN: I don't believe the feds will ever do a better job of this than University of Phoenix, and everybody sued their pants off for being worthless. I don't think the feds will do a better job of this than YouTube. The private sector is [i]much more capable[/i] of doing this job than the government will ever be, and we all already kinda think they suck at it. We're in an exploding-cart-before-the-exploding-horse conversation. [i]I LIKE THE CART![/i] I genuinely do. This is a terrible way of getting it to town.