We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series originally published in 2022, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)

SOURCES:
- Peter Blair, faculty research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and professor of education at Harvard University.
- Catharine Hill, former president of Vassar College; trustee at Yale University; and managing director at Ithaka S+R.
- Morton Schapiro, professor of economics and former president of Northwestern University.
- Ruth Simmons, former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University.
- Miguel Urquiola, professor of economics at Columbia University.

RESOURCES:
- "Progressivity of Pricing at U.S. Public Universities," by Emily E. Cook and Sarah Turner (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
- "Community Colleges and Upward Mobility," by Jack Mountjoy (NBER Working Paper, 2021).
- "How HBCUs Can Accelerate Black Economic Mobility," (McKinsey & Company, 2021).
- Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research, by Miguel Urquiola (2021).
- "Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility," by Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan (NBER Working Paper, 2017).

EXTRAS:
- "'If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
- "'A Low Moment in Higher Education,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
- "The $1.5 Trillion Question: How to Fix Student-Loan Debt?" by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
- "Why Larry Summers Is the Economist Everyone Hates to Love," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

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What Exactly Is College For? (Update)