I never thought I'd see the like of it!

Here in New Jersey, I'm still paying $2.02 for gas.  And under New Jersey state law, it gets pumped for me.  I never thought I'd see a gallon of gas at anything like this price--- reminiscent of my college years --- again in my lifetime.

When I taught at UT-Austin in the early 1980s, the Texas legislature threatened to raise tuition and the students--- just blocks away from the state capital building --- took to the streets in protest.  The proposed tuition?  $600 per semester, as I recall.

Now Margaret Spellings, late of the Department of Education and now president of the North Carolina university system, has proposed a $500 per semester tuition for three of the systems 17 institutions.  According to reports, every North Carolinian resides within 150 miles of one of the three chosen campuses.

One question that immediately arises is, who among North Carolina's college-qualified citizens will get to attend these three schools?  "The $500 tuition plan could create another problem: too much demand. If it’s perceived as a quality education at a price far below market, it’s possible many highly qualified students could start applying. That could, in theory, create an applicant pool that’s too large for the three institutions to handle, potentially crowding out all but the top students,"  opines Inside Higher Ed.

So, will the spots go to a meritocracy?  Will other schools in the state have to lower tuition rates in order to compete for students?  Will this move, if signed into law by the governor, cause a ripple effect across the region... across the nation?

Spellings terms her plan a "game changer."  Well, as this Blog attempts to demonstrate on a consistent basis, the game is changing in a dizzying number of ways.  The Fifth Wave is a whole new paradigm of higher education in America.  How big a splash Spellings will make will be an interesting aspect of the tsunami for us to follow as it plays out.