Journal of
Marketing Development and Competitiveness
Scholar Gateway
Abstracts prior to volume 5(1) have been archived!Issue 5(1), October 2010 -- Paper AbstractsGirard (p. 9-22)Cooper (p. 23-32)Kunz-Osborne (p. 33-41)Coulmas-Law (p.42-46)Stasio (p. 47-56)Albert-Valette-Florence (p.57-63)Zhang-Rauch (p. 64-70)Alam-Yasin (p. 71-78)Mattare-Monahan-Shah (p. 79-94)Nonis-Hudson-Hunt (p. 95-106) 
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
Academic Tenure and the Rising Cost of Higher Education: An Economist’s Point of View
Author(s): Yu Peng Lin
Citation: Lin Yu Peng, (2016)"Academic Tenure and the Rising Cost of Higher Education: An Economist’s Point of View," Journal of Applied Business and Economics, Vol. 18, Iss.4, pp. 31-35
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
The tenure system is one of the most debated topics lately in the sector of higher education. It is perceived
that strong tenure protections impose significant costs on higher education which in turn leads to
skyrocketing fees and tuition. In this article, we argue that academic tenure promotes research especially
in those fields with low near-term market return. It also helps to protect grading integrity and maintain
the quality of higher education. Our argument suggests that the tenure system helps to lock in costs for
universities in the sense that it is akin to purchasing labor under a long-term contract at a low price.
Hence, eliminating academic tenure in the hope of reducing skyrocketing college fees and tuition is an
unrealistic proposal.
