A number of colleges and universities have announced steeptuition increases for next year--much steeper than the current, verylow, rate of inflation. They say the increases are needed because ofa loss in value of university endowments heavily investing in common　　　　1．______stock. I am skeptical. A business firm chooses the price thatmaximizes its net revenues, irrespective fluctuations in income; and　　　　2．______increasingly the outlook of universities in the United States isindistinguishable from those of business firms. The rise in tuitions　　　　3．______may reflect the fact that economic uncertainty increases the demand for　　 4．______education. The biggest cost of being in the school is foregoing　　　　　 　5．______income from a job (this is primarily a factor in graduate andprofessional-school tuition) ; the poor one’s job prospects, the　　　　　 6．______more sense it makes to reallocate time from the job market to education,in order to make oneself more marketable.　　The ways which universities make themselves attractive to　　　　　　 　7．______students include soft majors, student evaluations of teachers, givingstudents a governance role, and eliminate required courses.　　　　　　　　 8．______Sky-high tuitions have caused universities to regard their students ascustomers. Just as business firms sometimes collude to shorten　　　　　　　9．______the rigors of competition, universities collude to minimize the cost tothem of the athletes whom they recruit in order to stimulate alumnidonations, so the best athletes now often bypass higher education in order toobtain salaries earlier from professional teams. And until they were stoppedby the antitrust authorities, the Ivy League schools colluded to limitcompetition for the best students, by agreeing not to award scholarshipson the basis of merit rather than purely of need--just like businessfirms agreeing not to give discounts on their best customer.　　　　　　　 10．______