Dive Brief:
- When Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions — which is currently working on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act — he cited an inflammatory cost of $11,000 per student to cover compliance, tying the cost of government regulation to tuition.
- The university recently released additional information about the study that came up with the $146 million in total compliance costs in 2013, showing that $117 million of it goes toward complying with research regulations.
- The amount tied specifically to higher education compliance was just $14 million, or about $1,100 per student.
Dive Insight:
Zeppos’ original testimony fit into the narrative that college costs are too expensive for students and government regulations add to the burden. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chair of the committee, ran with the number, urging a major rollback of federal regulations. This, of course, comes at a time when the Obama administration is urging more regulations to better monitor a sector still reeling from the collapse of for-profit Corinthian Colleges.
The reality is that Vanderbilt receives far more than the average university in federal research dollars that come with strings attached. A portion of the research grants cover the compliance costs, not student tuition dollars.