Rice University was founded in 1912 with an endowment and grants and the stipulation in its very charter saying "no tuition", but then the administrators moved to change the charter (to eliminate the racist "white" requirement) and as part of that also, guess what, moved to start charging (1965) rather than depending on the endowment.
The tuition has grown steadily since, from 0 to a third the price of comparable private schools in the 90s (and comparable price to public universities) to now be a pretty full-freight $50k/year.
This, combined with the steadily increasing tuition across all universities -- (inflation eased in 1982 but colleges kept increasing rates discovering the market would allow them to charge more) -- has cynically angered me for some time.
Unlike a business, the tax-sheltered endowments fuel a bit more cynicism than just a raw price increase. There was a joke at Princeton back in the 90s that if the board of directors ever allowed the university to spend down the endowment, they could fund ever-increasing tuition for all students for the next thousand years. Is perpetuity truly needed/healthy?
An education is supposed to free a person, not put them in bondage/slavery.
An endowment should free and empower the students (and thus our civilization) as they start their lives, not the administrators and faculty and institution.
Beware, you educators and administrators who put chains on your students to feather your nest and attempt to increase your prestige!
Beware you administrators who create unnecessary buildings with dozens of spaces empty 90% of the time all to woo professors or create your own mini-legacy. And then claim the university is meeting glowing "sustainability" and energy efficiency objectives! (You may get to stay in your office but the degree of walking for students ever-increases and now shuttles are needed!)
Beware you ranking agencies who weight how much a university spends per student as a factor in how good the university is!
Beware you congresspeople who make it easier for universities to charge more by creating huge student loan programs that allow students to go into great debt and subtly mis-direct their ambitions and outcomes towards those which allow them to service their debt!
OK, rant out. Thanks for passing along the article. There has been some progress at the above named institutions to provide tuition for lower-income families. I don't consider it adequate to address all my points.