In today’s Pope Center article Jay Schalin examines the tuition cap on the UNC system. Four years ago, the cap was set at 6.5 percent, but that was a Rule Made to be Broken (Jay’s title); this year, tuition increases throughout the system averaged 23 percent.

“While the previous cap was intended to avoid large swings in tuition increases to make planning easier for students,” he writes, “the new proposal is more directed at smoothing out revenue expectations for — you guessed it — campus administrators.”

That isn’t at all surprising. Decision-making within our higher education system (not just UNC) is usually meant to make things better for those employed by the system (professor and administrators). Effects on students and taxpayers are of little consequence.