It's the Output Function, Stupid...

From today’s Star-Tribune:

Editorial: Pay attention to college grad rate
New report shows middling Minnesota performance.

Published: February 26, 2007

Four years after enrollment, fewer than one in four students at Minnesota's four-year state colleges and universities have a B.A. in hand. That's well behind the national average. (Minnesota's private colleges, by comparison, produce impressive graduation numbers.)

Those are among the sobering facts about Minnesota higher education tabulated and released last week by the state Office of Higher Education. Entitled "Minnesota Measures" and available at www.ohe.state.mn.us, it's intended to be the first of a regularly issued compendium of indicators of higher education performance.

Higher education's rising cost is clearly related to the enrollment trends. "Minnesota Measures" documents that even among families eligible for state financial aid, this decade has produced a sharp increase in the share of family income consumed by college costs.

Before BigU embarks on a march toward greatness, Mr. Bonzo suggests that two things need to be done. First, do a better job of educating students, this will be reflected by much improved graduation rates. Second, get tuition costs under better control. These two things are related.

Mr. Bonzo, perhaps stupidly, believes that these things might happen with appropriate input from the ColdState legislature.

B.