What Exactly Is College For? (Update)

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,…