Venal does not begin to describe these collegiate profiteers

At least the Robber Barons delivered falling prices...and PAID TAXES.  These credentialed thugs loot our children and the public fisc.  It's all so progressive.  Or should I say corporatist?  HT Instapundit.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Poor Scholars Hit by Money Squeeze From Wealthy Colleges.

Scholarship programs funded by some of the nation’s biggest donors including Gates, Coca-Cola Co. and Michael Dell, are taking aim at practices used by wealthy colleges, such as Boston College, which has a $1.65 billion dollar endowment, Amherst, with a $1.64 billion fund and Barnard, with $216.4 million. They say the schools hurt poor and minority students by rescinding aid once they find out they have awards from outside sources or by banning use of the funds to cover some student contributions. Donors complain that, in some cases, their gifts are boosting a school’s bottom line rather than the students they seek to help.

In most schools, “financial aid” is just a scheme to facilitate price discrimination. If any other industry behaved this way, it would be roundly condemned.