There’s not much Elizabeth Warren and Chris Christie agree on. But last week they struck a similar chord in speeches that knocked increasingly common and luxurious college amenities like climbing walls and lazy rivers.
Such features, Warren said in a June 10 speech, contribute to rising tuition. A day later, Christie criticized colleges that are "drunk on cash and embarking on crazy spending binges," including the building of amenities like climbing walls.
"Some colleges have doubled down in a competition for students that involves fancy dorms, high-end student centers, climbing walls and lazy rivers -- paying for those amenities with still higher tuition and fees," Warren offered to the American Federation of Teachers.
Such critiques are hardly new, and they tend to frustrate those who work at community colleges and many other institutions that have never invested in anything resembling a country club amenity.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/15/are-lazy-rivers-and-climbing-walls-driving-cost-college