INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Phil Magness.
On a recent Price of Business, Host Kevin Price visited with Dr. Phil Magness of the Independent Institute.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t create higher education’s problems—it exposed ones that had been building for years. When campuses shut down and instruction moved online, students and families were suddenly asked to pay full tuition for a fundamentally different product, prompting a public reckoning: what, exactly, were they paying for? The pandemic laid bare the gap between the price of a four-year degree and its actual value, accelerating scrutiny of administrative bloat, reliance on underpaid adjunct labor, and the assumption that a traditional residential college experience justifies its ever-rising cost.
This context sets up a timely conversation with Dr. Phil Magness, author of Cracks in the Ivory Tower, which examines how self-interest and institutional incentives—not just the pursuit of knowledge—shape decision-making in academia. While the interview isn’t a book discussion, Magness’s research informs a broader conversation about the economics of pursuing higher education today: how students can avoid unsustainable debt, why public community colleges offer a smart, low-cost entry point for coursework before transferring to a four-year school, and how families can make more strategic, financially sound choices about where and how to invest in a degree.
